I Get A Kick Out Of You: The Biological Reason For Your Tech Addiction
It transpires that theres a biological reason for tech addiction.
You see, emails, text messages, and social media posts trigger the release of dopamine in your brain.
Dopamine is the neurotransmitter that rewards you for achieving something.
So when someone responds to one of your online remarks or comments, your brain sends out more dopamine giving you a tiny reward. And who doesnt like rewards? It makes you feel validated and seen.
If just using your phone which youre probably going to do anyway can give you a little boost, then it makes sense that youd want to do it as often as possible.
Technology addiction expert, Dr. David Greenfield, refers to smartphones as:
Choose Carefully What Bad Habits To Quit
Not all addictions are that bad. Don’t even try to quit something unless you have good reasons for it.
Drinking that morning coffee might just be beneficial, who knows? Science isn’t explicit. I eat chocolate every day, and I love it. Not going to stop, ever.
But when you have an addiction and bad habits that you know for sure that’s not going to benefit you and holding you back in life, then you need to start doing something about it.
Rather sooner than later, because the deeper in, the harder to get out. Addictions only exists if you let them.
How To Reduce Or Quit Drugs
Many different services are available to help you or someone you know quit drugs.
- Listen
Its never too late to quit using drugs.
Reducing or quitting drugs can improve your life in many ways. It can:
- improve your physical and mental wellbeing
- reduce your risk of permanent damage to vital organs and death
- improve your relationships with friends and family
- help you reconnect with your emotions
- increase your energy
- improve your appearance
- save you money.
Recovered addicts say that theyve never felt better after quitting drugs, although this can take time. Knowing why you want to quit drugs can help you to stay motivated during the withdrawal process.
Recommended Reading: What Degree Do You Need For Addiction Counseling
Lean On Friends And Family For Support
Find the people in your life who will be willing to walk through recovery with you. Not every one of your friends and family members will be willing to tell you when you arent making good decisions.
Having loving, supportive friends and family will help you through this journey. If you find that your friends and family arent as supportive and involved as youd like, dont give up. You can develop a supportive group of people who will help you get through your addiction, even if its not easy to find them.
Admit That You Have Issues
Firstly, and most importantly, admit you have a problem. Dont just say that you know you might have exaggerated with trading in the last weeks, but everything is fine. Instead, admit it to yourself that you are truly addicted and that this behavior doesnt represent who you are and that it can be changed. Say that you realize you have a real problem with trading that you need to address.
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Call A Drug Rehab Helpline For Guidance
If youre not sure where to turn, you can start by calling the Rehab Helpline for Drugs and Alcohol. They will help you find and understand every aspect of your rehab options, including insurance coverage, transportation, and any other questions. They will also connect you with the right resources and support groups.
Call to connect with a rehab admissions expert.
Stop All Access To Porn
Most times watching porn and erotic shows tend to cause compulsive urges that make you masturbate.
Sometimes, you may find it difficult to stop watching porn we advise that you try to redirect your attention by watching more sports, comedy, and inspirational shows.
You can also consider getting engaged in conversation that will really help to redirect your attention.
The key is to avoid any form of nudity that stimulates your urge for masturbation.
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Join A Solid Support Group
If you dont already have a few committed and supportive friends and family, a support group will be even more important. Being with other people who understand exactly what you are dealing with is extremely important. These groups will also help you find the right resources and tools to deal with the ups and downs of recovering from a drug addiction.
Even if you have family and friends who help you through the recovery journey, finding a support group will still be vital. Eventually, you may even be able to encourage others in their own recovery. If and when you or your friends deal with relapses, support groups will help you get back on track instead of going deeper into your addiction.
Note: You Dont Necessarily Need Our Program To Do This
On a no-tech/low-tech level, you can lock up your xbox or gaming computer in the garage or attic.
And you could always create rules for yourself and turn the computer off.
Of course, you can always go out and get it if you really want to
But putting even a small obstacle in your own way is often enough to make you stop, think, and decide better.
In any case, we can all agree that having a tool that blocks you from your own distractions can be priceless for quitting or cutting back
And our digital solution cuts off the problem at its root!
Recommended Reading: How To Tell If You Are Addicted To Nicotine
Start Breaking A Bad Habit And Forming A New One
Shaping our everyday activities and even how we feel about ourselves, habits can either make you or break you. New Years resolutions are similar to trying to break a habit. We have a goal in mind, we prepare tools to help us succeed, and we make an effort to keep up the goal. So why do most New Years resolutions and attempts at breaking a bad habit fail?
Willpower and strength to stay away from temptations decreases. As a result, motivation generally decreases, leaving us caving into our past and forgetting all about our goals.
Dreams of reaching the finish line are also given up so easily. Say you want to start eating healthier. You start to eat fruits and vegetable every day for two days. On the third day, someone brings donuts into the office. Can you have one? You have been doing so good so one donut wont hurt, right? All it takes is being okay with that one donut for you to be okay with ice-cream later on and then pizza for a midnight snack. Considering you are eating vegetables, you are okay with having the donut because you are still eating healthy at other times.
Achieving goals and forming new habits dont work this way.
Caving in is all too easy when you are comfortable where you are. You give up trying to reach a goal because it seems unreachable or you are satisfied with something in-between where you are at the moment and the goal you are trying to reach.
Break free from addiction.
When Should I See My Healthcare Provider About Addiction
Addiction is a serious disease. If you or someone you care about has a problem with addiction, talk to your provider right away. Treatments and support groups can help.
A note from Cleveland Clinic If you or someone you know is living with addiction, you may feel overwhelmed and out of control. But there is hope. Addictions are treatable. Through hard work and commitment, millions of people have overcome substance use disorders to live happy, healthy lives. Talk to your provider about a treatment plan that works for you. Dont get discouraged if you have setbacks along the way. It is possible to overcome this, and you are not alone.
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Are You Often Just Bored And Needing A Way To Fill The Hole
Instead of gaming, try going for a walk and sitting in the park for a while.
Go people watching or observe nature, and see if you can get lost in it the same way you do in video games.
Take up martial arts, surfing, or woodworking.
Books are another great time filler that leaves you with something you may be missing in your games knowledge. Just keep in mind that if youve been overindulging in games and social media for a while, it may take a week or two to retrain your brain again for the pleasures of in-depth reading.
Finally, sometimes it may be a good idea to learn how to be bored again.
In modern society, weve lost the magical ability to just sit and think. Often our greatest ideas come in our moments of downtime.
And often if you just force some uncomfortable boredom on yourself for a while, youll find it much easier to get motivated for other non-gaming activities youve been putting off.
Turn It Off At Bedtime Or Set Your Phone To Airplane Mode
If your phone is on, beeps, buzzes and blue light omissions can keep you up, or wake you up. Try turning your devices off when you go to sleep. If anything really important happens, youll find out about it in the morning.
Or, if you need to keep your phone on because you use it as an alarm, set it to airplane mode and dont turn this functionality off until youre ready to face the day. Give yourself some time in the morning to connect with yourself and do whatever puts you in an optimal state of mind such as meditation, reading a book, exercise, yoga or even just having a leisurely, nutritious breakfast.
Read Also: How To Stop My Video Game Addiction
Overcome Chocolate Cravings In 8 Minutes And Beat Chocolate Addiction Fast & Easy
If you are afraid your taste for chocolate will make you gain weight or cause bad side-effects, like damaging your teeth or adding way too much sugar to your diet, use these quick and easy steps to stop chocolate addiction for life now. They will work for chocolate cravings during pregnancy, menstruation, PMS or any stressful event, regardless of how many times youve succumbed to your chocolate munchies in the past.
So Video Game Addiction Comes With Very Real Life Consequences
As we can see, playing too many hours of video games isnt just a harmless bad habit.
Overplaying has a seriously negative effect on your relationships and work/life balance.
Here are some other long-lasting quality of life problems you may experience when you play too many video games:
Of course, these are just some of the symptoms of playing too many video games. So keep in mind that not everyones addiction manifests in exactly the same way.
Note: Read more about How Violence in Video Games is Affecting Your Mental Health in our bonus material here.
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Continuously Seeking Guidance Through Meditation And Prayer
Aside from taking constant inventory and examining your thoughts and emotions, it is essential that you seek guidance through regular meditation and prayer to overcome your shortcomings.
This step encourages you to meditate and pray regularly to help you with clear thinking and stopping any negative thoughts and urges from leading you towards your addiction again.
It is recommended that you offer gratitude and practice meditation for a few minutes every day to maintain your resolve of eliminating porn addiction from your life completely.
Plastic Pollution Affects Entire Food Chain
Its estimated that a plastic bottle can take 450 years to break down in a marine environment,43 but even then, it never fully goes away. It simply breaks down into smaller pieces that may persist in the environment indefinitely. These tiny pieces of plastic, commonly known as microplastics, also migrate up the food chain as theyre consumed by fish and other marine life.
In 2017, a malnourished and dying whale found off the coast of Norway had to be euthanized. The subsequent autopsy revealed 30 plastic bags and a large amount of plastic packaging waste in its stomach and intestines, which was causing blockages, malnutrition and pain.44
Like the poor marine animals, this microplastic pollution makes its way into your body as well. Microplastics have been found not only in seafood but also in sea salt and drinking water .
A study commissioned by the World Wildlife Fund found people, on average, consume the equivalent weight of one credit card about 5 grams of plastic each week.46
While the full effects of this ingested plastic is unknown, we do know that endocrine disrupting chemicals in the plastic can wreak havoc even at very low levels. As Myers told Consumer Reports, There cannot be no effect.47
Also Check: Can People Get Addicted To Marijuana
How Do Addictions Typically Arise
Addictions manifest in our lives in a multitude of ways. People, for instance, indulge in alcohol addiction, food addiction, television addiction, video game addiction, gambling addiction, sex addiction, porn addiction, work addiction, shopping addiction, social media addiction, hoarding addiction, to name just a few. All these addictions arise from specific life circumstances that trigger compulsive behaviors.
An addiction can, for instance, arise from unexpected social, emotional or environmental pressures. Sudden changes in our environment, family circumstances, or work conditions can threaten our comfort, security, and way of life. When under threat, we succumb to painful emotions that prevent us from dealing with the situation in optimal ways.
Dwindling self-confidence, low self-esteem, and a strong desire to relieve anxiety and stress, drive us toward compulsive habits and behaviors that we use as a coping mechanism to deal with the uncertainties of life. These behaviors provide us with a sense of control, while at the same time redirecting our attention away from our problems.
Sometimes, though, addictions arise because of a desire to feel important or to fit in with our surroundings. We want to win people over and be accepted as part of a community or group, and as a result, we indulge in behaviors that we feel will help us win other peoples approval.
Reaching Out And Helping Others
This step encourages you to reach out to other porn addicts and share the effective steps and tactics that you employed to get rid of your addiction.
It is your time to give back, and to aid the struggles of porn addicts.
This will also work as a reminder for you about why you cant go back to your former life and why you made the decision to opt for this path of recovery.
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What Is Sexual Addiction
Id say the biggest thing that most people dont understand about sexual addiction is that sex addiction isnt about sex. The way that I see it, sexual addiction is more about shame, isolation, adrenaline, and unworthiness than it is about chasing after sexual experiences.
Or, as one SAA member once so eloquently put it in a meeting that I attended, When I act out with sex workers, Im not thinking to myself Oh boy, this is going to be super fun!. But rather, Im thinking I have such a tornado of pain inside of myself that I either have to kill myself or compulsively act out to numb the pain.’
Compulsive sexual behaviour is what sex addicts use to numb out their emotions, just like alcoholics often use staying drunk to avoid feeling their underlying difficult emotions.
Sexual addiction, just like any drug addiction, can have a sliding scale of symptoms ranging in severity. For some people, sex addiction looks like chronic masturbation to porn, where they dont feel like they can function in society without climaxing at least seven times a day. For others, sex addiction could look like occasional flare ups of wanting to use or act out with sex workers only when theyre going through emotionally trying times .
Ive met hundreds of sex addicts and there is no singular unifying theme that connects all addicts at least not in terms of how they like to act out sexually.
If the behaviour has control over you, then it has likely become a problem in your life.
What Are My Addiction Treatment Options
To understand which level of treatment is most appropriate for your needs, you should consult with a physician, a therapist, or other treatment professional, who can assess your situation and make treatment recommendations. Often, people begin their recovery efforts with a period of supervised medical detox and then, depending on their needs, progress through additional rehabilitation. Treatment is sometimes initiated at a relatively intensive level of care but, as recovery progress is made, becomes gradually less intensive as individuals move through their continuum of care. The broad levels of care as outlined by the American Society for Addiction Medicine include:17,18
Learn more about the levels of care offered at American Addiction Centers nationwide treatment centers.
Curious about whether your insurance will cover the entirety of your addiction care? Fill out the form on the page below and an American Addiction Centers admissions navigator will inquire with your insurance company to discover your benefits.
Verify Your Insurance Benefits
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It Starts By Getting Clear What You Do Want
Get out a piece of paper and write down why youre trying to decrease your gaming time .
And add a few of the solutions you want to try.
This will help reduce your urge to game by reminding you why youre trying to kick your habit in the first place. Keep it on hand to look at whenever you feel doubts.
You should also take this time to set other goals in your life. Cutting back or quitting games is a lot easier if you choose something more positive to focus on.
