Might As Well Face It, You’re Addicted To Home
by Olivia_Allin, HSM team writer
“Addiction can be viewed as a continued involvement with a substance or activity despite the negative consequences associated with it. Pleasure, enjoyment or relief from actual or perceived ailments would have originally been sought; however, over a period of time involvement with the substance or activity is needed to feel normal. Some psychology professionals and many laypeople now mean ‘addiction’ to include abnormal psychological dependency on such things as gambling, video games, food, sex, pornography, computers, internet, work, exercise, adrenaline, idolizing, watching TV or certain types of non-pornographic videos, spiritual obsession, self-injury and shopping.”
- Wikipedia
There are three types of addictions. The first are positive addictions, in which the benefits outweigh the cost. Examples of this type of addiction are exercising or eating healthy. The second type of addiction is a neutral addiction. Neutral addictions do not benefit or harm you. An example is mowing the lawn. It does not cause harm,and besides having nice grass, it really doesn’t give you benefits. The third and final type is a negative addiction. This is where the insane amount of addictions come in. A negative addiction is something that causes more harm than benefit.
So: is Home an addiction? For many of us, yes. I could have fluffed that statement up a bit, but the simple answer is yes. But what category or categories does it fall under? It has been said that many of us that are on Home and enjoy it are damaged in some way or ways. I feel we all are damaged in our own ways and degrees. So is that the common denominator? Does it take damage before we become addicted, and if so, aren’t we all vulnerable to becoming addicts?
So many questions, and they are not as easy as the first to just say yes or no to. The damage and damage levels, addictions levels and addict categories, reasons for being on Home and damages if any from being on Home are as numerous as the people on Home.
Hi, my name is Olivia and I am a Home-aholic!
It is not always a wise thing for an addict to define their addiction or choose what category they feel their addiction falls under. But, this is my article so I will give myself permission if for no other reason than to provide an example.
My addiction is the only one I can really speak about because I can not get in the heads of the others that are addicted, both metaphorically or physically. I am not a stranger to being an addict. As I was recovering from pulverizing my body in a severe motorcycle wreck I was prescribed a metric ton of pain pills. Facing any day without them was a nightmare that I could not imagine. As I recovered, the need for these pills decreased, but not my fear of dealing with the pain. But there came a point where I was over-medicating myself out of fear, not need. That wasn’t enough to make me stop. The day came when I realized that this half coherent state I was in was not how I wanted to spend what life I had left. I didn’t want to hurt but at the same time I wanted to feel alive. Glassy-eyed and blowing spit bubbles was no way to live. So I had to make a choice. Medicate my fear with pills that were not meant to be used that way, or be alive and in pain.
To this day I feel pain, but in doing so I said yes to life. I don’t fear pain anymore; I fear not living while I can.
So I recognized, on my own, and dealt with my addiction. It was not easy, but it was worth it. I only relate this to you so you have some background on me and my addictions. In no way am I comparing my Home addiction to that of my pain pills. My pill addiction was a bad addiction for obvious reasons. I feel strongly that my Home addiction is a positive one or as I will refer to as a type one, but there may even be a bit of type two mixed in.
I have loved Home from the first avatar foot I stepped in it! Over the past three years plus, I have only missed a hand full of days logging on – not counting the outage and maintenance. This brings up one of the first signs that proves to me I am addicted.
During the outage, I was lost. Not in such a way that I couldn’t function, curled up in a corner, rocking back and forth, chanting some dead language. But I wanted my fix. I spent time in the HomeStation chat room and made a few videos about how much I missed Home.
I am lucky to have the luxury of having large amounts of free time. That’s my way of saying I am under-employed. I spend more time than I think most get to on Home. That in turn just feeds my addiction. But a well fed type one addiction is a good thing, or at least I think it is.
I truly enjoy helping people on Home. It gives me a feeling of warmth and accomplishment. I enjoy the randomness of Home. The other night, a guy stood next to me while I was talking to a friend. I guess he wanted to leave after five of so minutes and said bye. I didn’t respond because he was never a part of the conversation. A few seconds later he said bye again. I didn’t respond, again not thinking he was really talking to me. This happened four or five times but not so much for me to think he was spamming. On the sixth time he said bye, I turned and said “sorry, bye” and he walked away. That made me laugh!
God I love Home!
For me to break down all the reasons for all the types of addictions in Home would take me the rest of my life and I still would have only covered a fraction. So, look at yourself. Ask yourself if you are addicted to Home. Then determine what type of addiction you have.
The first step in dealing with any addiction is admitting you have one. I deal with mine by feeding it. That reminds me of my other addiction. Pie.
Mmmm, pie. I’m going to go feed that addiction now.
February 10th, 2012 by Olivia_Allin | 25 comments
Olivia_Allin is a team writer, photographer, model, curator, graphic artist, researcher and comic relief for HomeStation Magazine; she lives in Texas with her boyfriend, and Home is more than just a game to her. Years ago she discovered the meaning of life but forgot to write it down. On weekends, to let off steam, she participate in full-contact origami. She saw a Bigfoot once, made a sound you never want to hear twice, and was so proud of her Special Olympics gold medal that she had it bronzed. She is, in her own words, adorkable.
My name is Sue and I am a Home-aholic…
Your name is Sue and you are a Dork-aholic
I think we are all addicted to being in good company.
Indeed, and I don’t see anything wrong with that!
My name is Jayson and I am a Home-aholic…..
And it gets worst now as the bowling alley is temporarily closed!
Hi Jayson… look on the bright side… think of all the money you are saving by not renting the shoes
My name is Burbie and I am a Home-aholic. I believe Home is an addiction too, but a good one for many of the people I have met there. I agree with Godsprototype, we are addicted to being with good people. I have met so many wonderful friends on Home that I think I will remain addicted til I can’t see or type anymore.
I spend a great deal of time in Home, but I don’t allow it to stop my real life. As my real life changes so will the time I spend it Home accordingly. I am sure that is true of most of us.
I for one am glad you are a Home-aholic Olivia, great read, and fun as always.
Hi Burbz… you are not only a Home-aholic you are also a Home-pusher and I mean that in a good way
What a great article.Thank you for sharing your personal experiences.
Glad you enjoyed it… but you didn’t admit to your addiction
lol I would need a whole page for that
Not asking for detail nor are we judging. But just making the statement that you acknowledge that you are a Home-aholic is so freeing. I think just the fact that people read this article or any article here shows that they are addicted to Home. So interested in the Home experience that even while not on Home we look to outside sources for more Home fixes. But that is another article in its self
OK Olivia.
Hi I’m bb and I’m a Home-aholic.
You’re right that was freeing:-)It almost feels as if I’ve been initiated into something way bigger than me.
I wonder how I’ll feel after I hit Post.
Told ya
I would question the word “addicted” but the writer was there and should know. I was in a bad place too so maybe I understand.
It’s a good article.
Bye.
I tried questioning the word “addicted” but it never replied to my e-mails and its publicist said it was refusing to comment… I think it is hiding something.
An addiction balciasly starts out as a method of coping with problems. Its a form of escapism. Once you adapt to that method of coping it becomes an addiction. For example:-some people are emotional eaters aka they use food as a crutch in response to stress and become addicted to compulsive eating.-in response to a negative body image,some people become bulimic or anorexic to cope with their thoughts. That also becomes an addiction.-To try and forget things or ignore problem, there are all kinds of things they can do to cope. Video games are a form of escapism, as are drugs and alcohol, reckless behaviours, etc .All these coping mechanisms are a learned behaviour, and they are extremely hard habits to break out of, especially if there are deep issues involved. Any compulsive habit is an addiction, and would require treatment to break out of. So yah, a video game addiction is the same idea as a drug addiction, except instead of a fix or a joint, they use good old mario brothers or guitar hero for satisfaction.
Olivia, another super article. It was great catching up with you the other day, although as you mentioned in your article, there were a few Homies (see what I did there with Homies) out that night looking to provoke a reaction.
I’m not sure what it is about when you and I talk in one of the more central places on home, but we enivitably draw out sh!t disturbers. But anyways one thing I am sure was hard to get over was the addiction to pills. I sometimes have a hard time pulling my butt out of bed, and that is not because I am in pain (its cause I love to sleep in). So I can only imagine what it is for you everyday.
Anyhow, I don’t want to dwell on that and stray from the point I wish to get to. While I would not say I am addicted to Home, I do enjoy it often. Sometimes more frequently, sometimes less…but never huge gaps between visits. What I did wish to say is that the quote from Wikipedia and your first paragraph seem to contradict themselves. Now we all know Wiki is not a true sourse, but that does sound like a dictionary definition for the word.
Having said that, implying that an addiction can have no effect seems unlikely. Take for example your example of moving the lawn. If you mow your lawn every day, then ya I would say you are addicted. But see there is an ill effect in that you waste gas and time, and that you focus on such a trivial detail…seems more like OCD really. And the healthy addiction while good, can become negative if done too much. If you over exercise for instance, you might become underweight. Spend too much time on it, and you may not be eating properly, sleeping enough or doing other stress relieving activities.
I wasn’t sure if I should bring it up, but we are adults here so I am just going to throw it out. What about being addicted to masturbation. It benifits you, hurts no one and costs nothing (but some time and kleenex). But then if that is all you do, socially are you limiting yourself from finding a partner?
And how often must we really repeat something, or how often must we use something for it to BE an addiction? Just putting in my 2 cents there.
Thanks for your comment Robin. Add some pictures and up your word count and you would have your own article
I agree with what you are saying but I think you misunderstood the previsions I put in place in my first paragraph. I said “in which benefits outweigh the cost” and your examples take it to levels it was not intended to include. To clarify my example of mowing the lawn. Lets say a hand pushed non motor driven mower was used so buy using said green energy we are not polluting or wasting gas. Lets say that yard is 3 foot by 3 foot so it takes 4 minutes to finish. Or we can agree to just work off generalities as I has intended and except it as read…lol
Others reading this please understand that Robin and I are dear friends and enjoy few things more than our playful debates.
Back to your comment. I would like to know if you could consider OCD as a form of addiction? And by definition a health addiction is not longer health if taken to an extreme as you outline. Again I suggest that to outweigh the benefits with the cost changes the category. As for your example of self love of the physical type… again the degree in which it is done is part of how it is categorize. And I would add to that with your example, where it is done! No one wants to see that in an Applebee’s whilst enjoying a chicken fried steak.
Hope that helps clear up my lack of specifics in my examples. I’ll strive for more iron clad example in the future.
Again, others reading this… This is how Robin and I have fun. No Canadians where hurt in the making of this reply.
No they certainly weren’t, although what can I say…the opinions expressed here are those of the participants, and do not reflect Canada’s as a nation. Figured I would put the disclaimmer in just in case a fellow countryman were to read this and feel I was attempting to represent the enitre country with my babbling.
And while yes we do both love to argue…ok maybe debate is a better word, we both do it with a level of respect that is considerate of the other person.
So lets get to the example of mowing the lawn, which is 3 by 3, and using a non powered push mower. If you mow it every day, then one can only guess why. Maybe you need something to do for 5 min everyday, maybe you want everyone to think your tiny yard is emaculate and associate that with your entire life being the same, maybe its an excuse to get out of the house everyday…who knows or really cares. The point is by doing this, you will appear to be either crazy, bored, obsessive or so concerned with what everyone thinks about your place that you mow the lawn every day. So while you think this behaviour has no real consequence, everyones opinion of you will be reduced to either pity, or they will be laughing at you. Both of which I would call negative.
I don’t consider OCD an addiction but rather a seperate condition. With an additction a person makes a conscious choice to continue doing something even though the long term effects of doing so are harmful. OCD on the otherhand is a near reflex action to perform a task or movement when certain critera are met.
To better clarify the two: A smoker will keep smoking because addicted, but knows all to well it is bad. It gives a good feeling so the long term effects are ignored in lieu of the immediate gain. A person who is OCD about having all their possesions in the proper place will notice the minute something is out of place and react immediately to put it back, like a reflex. You could be OCD about HOW you smoke for example, but that would be a bit of both and the the reasons for them are completely different.
As for the self love example, lets assume that we are not talking about Paul Reubens or George Michaels, but rather the average person within their own homes. So to your degree statement, that pretty much goes with the last thing I asked before…how much does something have to be done to be an addiction?
It isn’t frequency that determines addiction, rather, it’s the physical or psychological dependence. If you can skip a day of Home without getting all stressed out about it; it isn’t an addiction. The same applies for all the other examples you’ve given -- if you suffer physical discomfort from the lack of performing a specific behaviour, then you are addicted physically. If you simply cannot rest, or think clearly until you’ve performed that behaviour, then you have a psychological addiction. Anyone can get addicted to pretty much any type of behaviour, but simply engaging in that behaviour will not necessarily create a dependence in everyone.
Nice answer… I’ll just say Ditto.
Well then Doctor, I would have to say I concur with your diagnosis. (See “Catch me if you can” to understand the joke there) Anyways, so then to understand correctly, addiction seems to be less about the activity or ritual, as it is avoiding the negative feelings associated with NOT doing it. We as humans do tend to do more to avoid pain than gain pleasure, so that makes sense.
So then ElSkutto, since you jumped in the pool here, what is your take on differentiating between addiction and OCD?
I’m no Doctor, I’m just…old. : )
Addiction and OCD are similar in some ways, but very different at their cores. Addiction relates to the overriding need to perform a behaviour, either mental or physical. As stated before, an addict simply cannot operate normally until they feed their addiction, and this is true whether the symptoms are mental (not being able to concentrate, irritability, etc…) or physical (the shakes, profuse sweating, nausea, etc…). It is a dependence of which the addict is well aware.
As far as I know, OCD sufferers don’t have dependence issues, and in some cases are completely unaware of their behaviour until it gets pointed out to them. It’s more like a nervous tick than an addiction. And unlike most addictions, the compulsive behaviour isn’t something that gets triggered after a period of time; OCD behaviour is usually triggered by a stimulus of some kind. OCD is purely psychological. And there is no reward or good feelings associated with the behaviour -- it is simply performed through habit, and not dependence.
So I am just going to scroll up to my post from before and…oh look, that is pretty much what I said. Althogh, I think ElSkutto did a better job of articulating it.