It's hard to know when you're addicted to something.
You might sense there's an addictive quality to the activity or outing, maybe in the back of your mind, like an itch saying, "Hey, you've done this before already."
What really helps reveal the addiction is someone else pointing it out. Once that happens, there's no putting back the pieces of what you think about yourself.
Surprisingly, we're okay with a fair amount of addictions, even when they might be actively harming us as a society.
Reddit user, mjkn01, wanted to know what fixation is perhaps not as healthy as we think it is when they asked:
"What is an addiction that the world is just ok with?"
Maybe it gives you a sense of pride?
Or perhaps it's about seeking out a good feeling for yourself when you've had a rough day.
Whatever the reason, you can't stop.
But I NEED To Know What's Going On?
"24 hour news cycles"
Frosty_Fig3423
"It's bad because it gives the veneer of being informed without actually being informed. You know the broad strokes and the players and who said/did what, but it's all presented in an entertaining way so you keep on watching and you're not actually informed. There are studies done that people that consume their news that way (passively mind you) are less informed on the whole. A lot of buzzwords or phrases that mean something to the audience, but don't actually represent the story. It's caused a lot of problems."
"Politics isn't sports or meaningless. Being informed, and thinking about nuance, or being able to listen to the other side rather than some caricature of it is important in a democracy. And yet we're raising people to hate the otherside, to become further polarized, to treat politics as a game and all the while making sure our voters are less informed on the whole. It's dangerous."
BBQ_HaX0r
*puts down phone* What Did You Say, Dear?
"Phone addictions when it’s parents instead of kids."
toothlessgrins
"Trueee. I’m a new parent and currently trying to fight my addiction to my phone. I never realized how bad it had gotten till recently"
mrsteacher420
"Yeah, this is one none of us want to talk about it. You can kick smoking, booze, sugar, social media, caffeine, but I’ll be damned if any of us will get rid of our phone. It’s the first thing I look at every day and I can’t leave home without it. And really, I don’t need it, but I have to have it."
blisterson
Hard To Let Go Of The Rush You Get When You Swipe
"Shopping"
macaronsforeveryone
"Dealt* with this a few years back, probably because I started getting some fine lines and I thought expensive makeup and new clothes would make me feel better. Yeah it didn't, just added some stress to my life and relationship because of money stuff. Dont fall for this easy trap ladies and gents, I know the pressure is big but it's really okay and quite normal to age.."
Altruistic-Order-661
You don't think too much about the food and drink you consume.
So long as you're happy while eating or having a drink, then it shouldn't be that bad, right?
Unfortunately, there might need to be real discussions had about how much we're all drinking.
If Only You Could See What It Does To Your Brain
"Sugar"
Sad-Illustrator1610
"Dude, I work at a certain large coffee chain and most people who think they are addicted to caffeine are actually addicted to sugar. Unless you are ordering an iced/hot coffee, cold brew or espresso, the amount of coffee in the drinks you are ordering is minuscule."
"Sure, it will offer you a little caffeine but if you are consistently getting a white chocolate mocha everyday and thinking you need your “coffee” fix, it’s not the coffee you’re needing."
MissHannahJ
Something We Should Talk About, But Can Never Talk About
"I think a lot more people are addicted to alcohol than we care to admit"
Babylil22
"I'm an alcoholic and I'm struggling with it because it's so normalized. All of my work buddies just want to go out and drink after work around the weekends. I go visit my girlfriend at work it's at a bar and everybody's drinking. They sell alcohol in like every corner store. It's passed off as a sophisticated hobby. I go 2 months without having a single drink and then I have a pop and can't stop kind of drinking habit so it can get dark pretty fast."
"I'll be fine for the first couple days doing it and then after like day 4 I'm pretty much having an emotional outburst, normally at my girlfriend who comes home to find me f***** up. It is a sad degenerative disease and I wish I didn't have it and I wish I would have learned better communication and coping skills earlier in life."
Velghast
Need Papa's Fix To Keep Going
"Caffiene"
severflux
"My favorite drug before cannabis. I wouldn't be able to function! Went through a serious withdrawal years ago just to cut down my consumption (was drinking an entire espresso pot a day); physical pain was crazy. Tried cutting out my daily latte recently and could not get my work done. It's serious!"
Alternative_Belt_389
"Offered in generally-unlimited quantities at most workplaces. It's somewhat dystopian to realize it's basically 'Hey, in case you get tired working 8+ hours, here's as much free, addictive stimulant as you can handle to perk back up and keep working'."
Fluffy_Munchkin
And then there's these, the worst of the worst in terms of addictive quality, which we might never kick as a society.
Doesn't matter if we know about it.
We need these things in our lives, regardless of how bad they are.
Something About An Epidemic...?
"Ambien, I work as a pharmacist and it blows my mind that SO many prescribers write for it too often. It's got to be one of the most incorrectly prescribed medications out there. To stop taking it is a rough process ☹ Weeks of little to no sleep until your body figures out how to sleep again."
Tyretitan
A Lot More Complicated Than We Care To Admit
"Consumerism. It's good to keep on buying for the economy so they actually promote it."
Light_Shifty_Z
"This is why I think we will never make any real attempts to fix climate change. We essentially need to overhaul our entire economy, the world as we know it, to reduce consumption of energy/oil/plastics."
"Overconsumption has been made commonplace and convenient. We are f-cked"
ECONOMIC_DEMOCRAGUY
Yeah. Yep. Yeah.
"Social media"
mywifiisbadtho
"This might be too recent to have cause real waves but I am pretty sure that in a couple of years you’ll have to accept the consequences every time you log in. A few years later social media sites will all have to have standard khaki packs sites and big bold horrifying message everywhere."
Meanwhile-in-Paris
"I really believe that in a few years, social media log in pages will have warnings like cigarette packs in Canada."
"Warning: the use of these sites has been linked to depression, anxiety, insomnia. Please enter at your risk." Or something to that effect."
thatswhatshesaidxx
Be aware of your own vices.
Accept they're a vice.
It's okay to have them, just don't let them be the defining force of your life.
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Likes and dislikes are a lot of what goes into forming relationships with others. Foods and drink, music, and stories can have major cultural significance.
Life can be complicated when, try as you might, you just can't get yourself to like eating the local delicacy in your hometown.
Everyone needs their coffee.
That's just a way of life, right?
boy i need coffee today— Pamela Fleischmann (@Pamela Fleischmann) 1554992490.0
That probably has to do with a common belief in the West that coffee is necessary to get up and get going in the mornings.
Researcher Sam Maglio, an associate professor at the University of Toronto Scarborough's Department of Management and the Rotman School of Management, said:
"We have this image of a prototypical executive rushing off to an important meeting with a triple espresso in their hand. There's this connection between drinking caffeine and arousal that may not exist in other cultures."
Sure enough, the effect was weaker on those who grew up in Eastern cultures, where coffee consumption is not as prevalent.
The findings show that participants who were shown coffee-or tea-related cues before receiving tasks perceived time as shorter and thought more concisely and precisely:
"Coffee and tea are two beverages commonly-consumed around the world. Therefore, there is much research regarding their physiological effects. However, less is known about their psychological meanings."
"Derived from a predicted lay association between coffee and arousal, we posit that exposure to coffee-related cues should increase arousal, even in the absence of actual ingestion, relative to exposure to tea-related cues."
"We further suggest that higher arousal levels should facilitate a concrete level of mental construal as conceptualized by Construal Level Theory."
"In four experiments, we find that coffee cues prompted participants to see temporal distances as shorter and to think in more concrete, precise terms. Both subjective and physiological arousal explain the effects."
According to Maglio:
"We wanted to see if there was an association between coffee and arousal, such that if we simply exposed people to coffee-related cues, their physiological arousal would increase, as it would if they had actually [drunk] coffee."
We're pretty sure coffee drinkers would the real thing over thinking about it, however.
Not sure just thinking of coffee would have cut it this morning!! https://t.co/fpLr8cizgs— peter rowe (@peter rowe) 1554546230.0
Yeah, right..... 🤨😴☕️ https://t.co/brQSCwRU5R— North Shore 104.9 (@North Shore 104.9) 1554290106.0
me: I need to concentrate to be able to study for my finals my brain: I WAS REMINISCING JUST THE OTHER DAY WHILE H… https://t.co/4wDdl6HEf2— sam (@sam) 1554905331.0
Getting smarter by the sip! New study finds just thinking about coffee can boost brain power- alertness and attenti… https://t.co/QLWMkibAdt— Megan Gilliland (@Megan Gilliland) 1554287939.0
"A new study shows that just seeing something that reminds people of coffee can result in a more alert and attentiv… https://t.co/vG7GNbTHm5— Sarah E. Olson (@Sarah E. Olson) 1554737928.0
we never doubted it :) Simply Thinking About Coffee Gives Your Brain A Boost, Study Suggests via @forbes https://t.co/niETCkgubE— Cape Town Coffee Festival (@Cape Town Coffee Festival) 1554467270.0
What do you think, coffee drinkers?
Would just thinking about coffee help your brain become more brain and attentive?
Think pf the money you'd save each morning!
'Half Of The World's Coffee Is In Danger Of Going Extinct According To Climate Study
It seems climate change could claim another victim: coffee.
Brace yourselves, folks. You might want to hold on to your cup of joe for as long as you can.
Researchers at Kew Royal Botanic Gardens in the UK studied endangered coffee species using the latest computer modeling techniques and found that 60% of wild coffee species are on the brink of extinction due to deforestation, droughts, and plant diseases, according to AFP.
Lead researcher, Aaron P. Davis, told CNN about the threat of a perpetually warming planet having adverse effects on the growth of coffee.
"The important thing to remember is that coffee requires a forest habitat for its survival."
"With so much deforestation going on around the world, wild coffee species are being impacted at an alarming rate."
"Considering threats from human encroachment and deforestation, some (coffee species) could be extinct in 10 to 20 years, particularly with the added influence of climate change,"
People are getting justifiably cranky.
The study published in Science Advances indicated that researchers analyzed 124 species, mostly abundant in tropical Africa, the Indian Ocean islands—which include Madagascar, Comoros Islands, and Mascarene Islands—Asia and Australia and found that 75 species are at risk of extinction, including "13 being critically endangered, 40 endangered, and 22 vulnerable species."
Arabica and Robusta are two of the species made for global consumption, both of which were categorized as endangered.
Unless governments and commercial producers implement ways to protect coffee species, consumers will be paying a lot more for their morning fix.
Now coffee drinkers are caring about the environment more than before.
The Kew researchers accessed climate data from Ethiopia in the last 40 years to determine the rate at which deforestation and warming temperatures were destroying the ecosystem.
They discovered that nearly a third of wild Arabica species were grown outside of conservation areas, making them more vulnerable for decimation.
Davis assured there is no immediate threat, but he did warn about the bleak future of coffee farming.
"As a coffee drinker you don't need to worry in the short term. What we are saying is that in the long term if we don't act now to preserve those key resources we don't have a very bright future for coffee farming."
The team also expressed concern for the livelihood of coffee farmers in Ethiopia, many of whom are forced to relocate because of climate change.
Davis suggested that wholesalers should pay the farmers a "fair price" so they can invest and improve upon their methods to secure the future of production.
But that would also require governments to regenerate forests to ensure the future of coffee farming.
According to E-Imports, 150 million Americans over the age of 18 drink coffee every day. The thought of that many people suddenly on coffee withdrawal because of climate change is a huge wake up call.
Woman Wants To Call Off Her Wedding Because Of Her Lack Of Bridesmaids, And Her Heartbroken Fiancee Turns To The Internet For Advice
Planning a wedding can be a nightmare for some people. It's amazing how quickly an event that is supposed to be about the couple can turn into a whole big production about literally everybody else. I know from experience, I actually cancelled my wedding and surprised people with a beach BBQ/wedding because planning it got to be so stressful. So when one heartbroken man asked Reddit what to do about his fiance's struggles with planning their wedding, I felt for the bride-to-be way down deep in my bones.
He explained that she had no female family members and no friends, so she had gotten fixated on the idea that she would have no bridesmaids. She's an elementary school teacher and writer who is pretty uncomfortable in social settings, so she didn't have a whole lot of chance for connecting with people. The groom has a large group of friends, but she's not so social. She was so upset that she was considering cancelling the wedding entirely! He was genuinely heartbroken that he couldn't help her feel better.
Reddit offered a few bits of advice for him. Some have been edited for clarity.
H/T: Reddit