These holidays, I’ve realized that there is a very thin line between being hooked to something we like and simply over indulging in it to the point of being addicted. Trust me, sometimes when we cross this line, things can get pretty ugly. This article was inspired by me, because I tend to get ‘addicted’ to things easily. For the first couple of weeks of our two and half month vacation [I know!!! :)], I was totally, crazily and irritatingly (not for me but for those around me of course!) addicted to the sitcom F.R.I.E.N.D.S. My mother would get super annoyed with me for sitting glued to the laptop all day (getting up only for the most inevitable of daily activities). She would say that I was acting as though I was in a hotel room with room service and everything where I didn’t have to do any household chores! Every now and then I would tell myself-“this is it, this is the last episode for the day”, but I would end up watching ten more. It was as though I had no choice, no control; I HAD to mechanically watch it all day! And then, 10 seasons, 240 episodes and 5280 minutes later, it was finally over.
Then the ‘Twilight’ madness took over, now I was a different kind of crazy person. Reading the books again (I would finish one book in less than 24 hours and grab the next one with one even touching any air in between) and watching the movies again, finding new videos on you tube, checking out pictures of Taylor Lautner and Robert Pattinson… this went on for a while.
I also tend to do this with food, if I like, say the coffee in some place, I would keep coming back to the same place again and again and again and yet again till I get sick of it!
Most people don’t accept or even realize that they are addicted to something. Youngsters are most prone to get addicted to video games, social networking sites, sitcoms, certain sports or sadly even hookah and booze. Sometimes it’s cool but sometimes it’s downright scary! I know that it’s just hard to figure out how much is too much and more often than not we have find out the hard way. I know some friends who are on facebook literally throughout the day; while eating, studying, talking on the phone and even while hanging out with friends. I have a friend who is so addicted to mint that she gets through 3-4 mentos packets everyday!
While doing something we like, if there is a constant nudge that keeps pushing us to do something, not just as a hobby or as a ‘once in a while thing’ but as something that we just HAVE to do all the time, then I guess it is an addiction, which is not supposed to be very healthy. Well, I don’t want to be a hypocrite; so for those of you who are snorting and saying - “look who is talking!”, I would like to add-my latest addiction is ‘How I met your mother’!
