“Not all addictions are bad.” Do you agree or disagree with this statement?

[Anonymous]

[OneViewpoint]

The clinical definition of an addiction is a chronic brain disorder where you compulsively seek and use a substance (like drugs/alcohol) or engage in a behavior (like gambling/gaming) despite harmful consequences, losing control and prioritizing it over other life aspects. So a literal addiction is never a good thing.

But the word addiction is also used casually all the time in the common idiom to refer to things people like a lot but aren't actually addicted to. Such as, "Oh, I'm addicted to popcorn". Or, "I love broccoli, I'm addicted to it. In the casual use case, "addictions" aren't necessarily bad things.

Context matters.

[msc545]

You are not entirely wrong about this; however, you should be careful about using food as an example, since an addiction or craving for a particular kind of food that seems out of proportion is often an indicator of Pica. This medical condition is frequently associated with a deficiency of some nutrient. I know about this because, first of all, I was educated to know about this, but I also know about it personally because I once developed, over a period of about a month, an intense craving for popcorn of all things. I could not explain it and I had no sense of why I was craving it except I knew that I would wake up in the morning wanting popcorn and by the evening would have made two or three more bowls of it for no particular reason other than I craved it.

About a month after several months of this, I realized there was something wrong and did a series of blood tests, which revealed a fairly significant anemia. During this period, when I corrected the anemia, the craving went away, and I realized that at that point, popcorn seems to contain a lot more iron than most people think it does. I had a very substantial iron deficiency, which I had not been aware of.

[Curmudgeon]

I am reminded of the story of shock rocker "Alice Cooper" a. k. a., Vincent Furnier, who gave up drugs and alcohol and took up playing golf, saying "I replaced one addiction with another..."
https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/alice-cooper-saved-by-the-golf-course-1052343/

[midnightmoon05]

Give me a few examples.

I disagree.

[Asker]

Some people with OCD are obsessed with being clean all the time. That doesn’t sound like a bad thing to me.
Does being clean all the time sound like a bad thing to you?

[midnightmoon05]

Depends what level.
My son is mildly OCD.
As a kid, he packs his own suitcases when we travel. He has to repack in the hotel and at home. Rewatched the clothes and every piece has to be folders perfectly. That I can deal with.
He gets uncomfortable if the kitchen counter gets a little messy… so he needs things put away.
The more extreme cases… would be hard to handle that would be bad…
- all closets has to be neat and tidy, home has to be spotless, things has to be organized in a certain … to the point where it interferes daily life… = bad.

[Anonymous]

Disagree.

[Chazmatazz269]

Disagree, by definition addiction interferes with one’s ability to function normally and be otherwise productive. People’s ignorant overuse of the word doesn’t make addiction healthy or even tolerable.

[exitseven]

There are positive addictions. Some people are addicted to exercise and feel symptoms if they cannot workout. However even positve addictions are not really good. .

[lightbulb27]

false... if something else is in control, it can go bad. doesn't mean it will.

[beefcakebradybatson]

H**L to the NO!!! I'm addicted to buxom broads !!!

[Miristheiss]

No. What are examples of good addictions?

[Asker]

Some People with OCD are obsessed with being clean all the time.
Being clean is better than being dirty.

[blackeagle007]

Bad, it’s a disease

[noohair]

If it is an addiction , it is bad...