Modern Addictions

I was thinking about change in the world, or at least changes that I have seen in my own lifetime. One of the changes is that there seem to be many more new addictions today than ever before existed. But that makes sense, given the way change comes and goes so quickly today. People tend to latch on to something that is new more often with a clenched fist that is hard to break. Some addictions never change. There is the addiction to alcohol, drugs, sex etc. Those things are universal and unaffected by new influences in the world.

But the biggest new addiction today seems to me to be to electronic communication devices. Just go outside and walk awhile in a crowd and you'll see humans that behave rationally in most instances behaving irrationally with their cell phones and other devices. I wonder if electronic communication devices are inherently addictive. Surely, anyone who was a parent in the 50's or 60's would  say yes as they remember their teenage children chattering endlessly on the land line phones of the day. But cell phones attract even more time wasting than the old line line calls. I guess the convenience and ease of use of electronic devices today makes them more likely to addict us. Too, they are devices that allow us to escape reality.

There are other modern addictions besides electronic ones. How about shopping? As societies have become wealthier more and more members are shopping way more often. Look at closets in houses built 50 years ago and those houses that are built today. Most modern ones have far more of the walk-in closets or at least far more closet space overall, space needed to fit all the junk we buy due to our shopping addiction. Anyone who "shops for fun" too much must be addicted to shopping.
Another modern addiction is the food addiction. Look around and see how many obese people are out there. Never before in history have so many been so overweight. This also seems to be caused to a great degree by having so much more affluence everywhere in the world. We have more free time and more money to eat, so we do it.  If one looks at what we eat it also shows that we are addicted to food. We eat plenty of empty calories because it is an attempt to find some satisfaction with life that we think the food addiction will bring to our lives.

One more of the modern addictions might be an addiction to the trivial in favor of the important. People today are less informed and interested in what they should know than ever before because they are so fascinated by stupidity. Maybe we try to escape what we see as an unpleasant reality by focusing on triviality. The problem is that with every stupidity we embrace there is less opportunity to spend time on the real. No wonder most people can name their favorite reality TV performer but can not identify their government officials or their child's teacher.

Worse than all the new addictions we are finding in our society is the fact that humans seem satisfied with the addicted behavior, to almost prefer to be addicted than not. I wonder, is the world today that unpleasant?