Social Addiction

Social Addiction

By Wilson

Addiction is running wild in American life. Not just drug, alcohol, food, gambling, smoking and sex addiction. I could make a hundred jokes about sex addiction and smoking, but I won’t. We are getting addicted to just about anything we enjoy. It’s part of what makes life enjoyable. It can also take away from our lives and make them harder.
Geeks are almost all addicted to something. That’s part of being a geek. Board games, comics, movies, tv shows and other such stuff are the geeks’ compulsion. Collectibles like Funko Pops are designed to feed the craving into an addiction. I stated in a previous article that blind boxes are the way geeks gamble; double the addiction because they are a game of chance and a collectable in one. I’m surprised the government wasn’t given them a gambling tax.
I’m addicted to listening to audiobooks. I like the freedom to do two things at once. It’s hard to draw while watching T.V. so I listen to books that my brain turns into movies in my mind as my pen dances across paper. I was listened to Ready Player One, and I realized the main theme is addiction.
It’s a great story and I will have seen the movie by the time this goes on the board. Most people in this dystopian future spend a great deal of time in the biggest best video game ever; The Oasis. They work, play, learn and live their daily lives through it. When the man who invented it dies, he leaves a game that is like Arthur’s Excalibur. He who wins the game will own The Oasis. This gets more people addicted to The Oasis. They don’t just want to live and breathe the game, they want to own it. They forgo real human contract to play at life in the Oasis.
Here is the rub about it all. There are people in the world that would say any addiction is bad. Bear in mind I’m not talking a phase or a fad. I’m going through a phase eating low-cal cheese popcorn like an addict. I’m addicted to listening to books. I can write and listen but my thoughts jumble so I don’t turn my books on when I’m writing, but I want too so bad the whole time I’m writing. I crave finishing a book and starting another. My son doesn’t think it’s a good thing to listen to books instead I should be reading a book in paper or electronic form. He forgets that one of two things happen when I do that. The book bores me and I fall asleep, never finishing it, or I can’t stop reading it. It’s always one more chapter, page, paragraph or sentence keeping me up all night until the book is done a worse addiction than listening. Finishing the book becomes a compulsion. Try and explain to your boss that you fell asleep at work because you read a book all night.
The biggest addiction the human race faces now is social media. It’s being called Social networking addiction according to Lifewire. Smart phones helped to aide the infatuation of social media. Pictures on Snapchat feed our egos, while tweets help us look into other people’s lives. When twitter first started, I tweeted with Penn Jillette, Kevin Smith, Simon Pegg and Johnny Depp. Yes, the real ones. It any other format, I never would have been able to connect with these people, or I should say in real live. It’s amazing. The only problem going down this rabbit hole, with my addictive personally, other than listening to books I found myself not doing the things that I enjoy in live like creating things. I had to pull myself back, limit myself to one type of media, and only allow myself to go on it a couple of times a day.
When used correctly and with moderation, social media can enrich our lives. We can connect with others without the problem and expense of calling or getting on an airplane. We can learn and teach. Just don’t substitute or confuse it for a real life. In Ready Player One Ernest Cline writes “The OASIS lets you be whoever you want to be. That’s why everyone is addicted to it.” It is important not to let an addiction to social media to define you, but only let it add to your live.
Preaching done. Now go out and buy your favorite geeks the Funko Pop’s they want.