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> For many people, work is their addiction. Maybe for a rare few, but generally, no. You might be highly work motivated, but rising to the level of addiction

> For many people, work is their addiction. Maybe for a rare few, but generally, no. You might be highly work motivated, but rising to the level of addiction? That's hyperbole, or you don't really have a good understanding of what real addiction entails. Somebody who is addicted will compulsively engage in that behavior even in the face of debilitating injury to themselves and those around them. Maybe you can make an argument about working too long and spending too little time with your family, but that's really milquetoast compared to real addiction. This tiktok philosopher isn't talking about real addiction, when they say 'addiction' they mean 'thing I like a lot.'

haswell 4y ago
> That's hyperbole, or you don't really have a good understanding of what real addiction entails. These are not my words, these are words from an addiction expert who works with "real" addiction closely. I'd ask that you consider the possibility that addiction is more complex, and not so easy to put in a clean "real addiction" box as may be popular to believe. > Somebody who is addicted will compulsively engage in that behavior even in the face of debilitating injury to themselves and those around them. This is surprisingly close to exactly what I see from so many people in tech. They'll put their health severely at risk by neglecting sleep for work. They'll allow work to invade and permeate almost every aspect of their lives, and will rationalize it because it looks like success. They'll continue to push past their own limits for years on end only to find themselves deeply burned out requiring months if not years of recovery. I would be cautious about downplaying addiction to things we find acceptable just because we find those things acceptable. The results of acceptable addictions might not involve an overdose or some of the extremes of drug seeking behavior, but that does not make them any less addictive, nor does it change the fundamental mechanisms driving those addictions. Before discarding this perspective outright, I'd recommend spending some time listening to Dr. Lembke. I know she changed my perspective on this, opened my eyes to some realities that I was not aware of. A lot of this boils down to a conversation about dopamine, and is pretty fascinating. > This tiktok philosopher isn't talking about real addiction, when they say 'addiction' they mean 'thing I like a lot.' What, to you, is "real" addiction? Just the ones that are maladaptive? Just the ones involving hard drugs? What happens when an adaptive addiction goes too far? During a time when scientists are having serious conversations about real addictions to things like...TikTok...why can we not consider that addiction is perhaps more than just the hard drugs that require rehab?
- a9h74j 4y ago
  Queue [F. Dyson?????]: I have seen more persons destroyed by physics than by drugs.

haswell 4y ago

> That's hyperbole, or you don't really have a good understanding of what real addiction entails. These are not my words, these are words from an addiction expert who works with "real" addiction closely. I'd ask that you consider the possibility that addiction is more complex, and not so easy to put in a clean "real addiction" box as may be popular to believe. > Somebody who is addicted will compulsively engage in that behavior even in the face of debilitating injury to themselves and those around them. This is surprisingly close to exactly what I see from so many people in tech. They'll put their health severely at risk by neglecting sleep for work. They'll allow work to invade and permeate almost every aspect of their lives, and will rationalize it because it looks like success. They'll continue to push past their own limits for years on end only to find themselves deeply burned out requiring months if not years of recovery. I would be cautious about downplaying addiction to things we find acceptable just because we find those things acceptable. The results of acceptable addictions might not involve an overdose or some of the extremes of drug seeking behavior, but that does not make them any less addictive, nor does it change the fundamental mechanisms driving those addictions. Before discarding this perspective outright, I'd recommend spending some time listening to Dr. Lembke. I know she changed my perspective on this, opened my eyes to some realities that I was not aware of. A lot of this boils down to a conversation about dopamine, and is pretty fascinating. > This tiktok philosopher isn't talking about real addiction, when they say 'addiction' they mean 'thing I like a lot.' What, to you, is "real" addiction? Just the ones that are maladaptive? Just the ones involving hard drugs? What happens when an adaptive addiction goes too far? During a time when scientists are having serious conversations about real addictions to things like...TikTok...why can we not consider that addiction is perhaps more than just the hard drugs that require rehab?

a9h74j 4y ago
Queue [F. Dyson?????]: I have seen more persons destroyed by physics than by drugs.