What Is Addiction?
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| AI Copilot-generated image |
When we hear the word "addiction," most of us immediately think of drugs, alcohol, or gambling. We picture someone who's lost control, someone whose life is falling apart. But is that all?
Addiction, at its core, is when your brain gets so hooked on something that you can't stop doing it, even when you know it's causing problems. It's like your brain has been rewired to crave that one thing above everything else. The dopamine rush becomes so powerful that your willpower just... disappears.
Think about it in real life. One who cannot go a day without his cigarettes? Or that friend who checks their phone every five minutes, even during dinner? Or maybe you yourself - can you go one week without your morning "kopi"? When you try to stop and you feel uncomfortable, irritable, or incomplete, that's addiction.
The Dark Side
Now here's where it gets interesting, and a bit scary.
Think about it - if you can make someone addicted to your product, you control them. They'll keep coming back, they'll spend their money, they'll ignore the harm, all because their brain is hooked. Their own brain does the work for you.
The tobacco industry knew this for decades. They engineered cigarettes to be more addictive. They added chemicals to make sure once you start, you can't stop. They marketed it as cool, as freedom, as sophistication - but really, they were just creating lifelong customers through addiction.
Same strategy in fast food businesses. Sugar, salt, and fat in perfect combinations that stimulate your brain like fireworks. You know it's unhealthy, but you crave it anyway. That's not by accident. In gaming industry, they hire psychologists to design reward systems that keep you playing. Loot boxes, daily rewards, streaks - all designed to create behavioral addiction.
You're not weak. You're just up against teams of scientists who studied how to hack your brain.
History Doesn't Lie: The Opium Wars
The Qing Dynasty in China, once mighty and advanced, fell partly because of opium. But here's what's interesting - it wasn't the Chinese who introduced opium to themselves. The British Empire, wanting to balance their trade deficit (because everyone wanted Chinese tea, silk, and porcelain), started smuggling opium into China. They got millions of Chinese people addicted; officials, soldiers, workers - all smoking opium.
Later, productivity crashed. The government tried to stop it, but the damage was done. The addiction was so widespread that when the government tried to ban opium, Britain went to war to protect their drug trade. Yes, the Opium Wars were literally fought due to drug dealings.
By the time the dust settled, China was weakened, colonized (i.e. Hong Kong), and humiliated for a century. All because of "addiction".
This isn't some ancient history that doesn't matter. This is a blueprint. This is proof that addiction can be used as a weapon to conquer nations without firing a single shot at first. You just need to get the population hooked on something that destroys them from within.
The Modern Battlefield: Our Children and Screens
Let's observe what's happening right now in our own society.
Have you seen how children behave with tablets and smartphones? You see it everywhere now. Children at restaurants, tablets in front of their faces. In the car, screen time. At home, more screen time. Some kids spend 6-8 hours a day on devices. Give a two-year-old an iPad with YouTube Kids, and watch them go quiet instantly. It's like magic for tired parents, right? Finally, some peace.
But here's the thing - what are we actually doing?
We're creating the same addiction mechanism in their developing brains. The bright colors, the instant rewards, the endless content, the autoplay feature - all of it is designed to keep them hooked. And it works.
Try taking the device away from a child who's been on it for an hour. Watch what happens. The screaming, the crying, the tantrum - it looks exactly like withdrawal symptoms. Because their brain has been flooded with dopamine, and now you're cutting off the supply.
Some parents, just give in. "Aiyah, let them play la, at least they stay quiet." But without control, without limits, these children are being programmed. Their brains are being wired for addiction before they even know what's happening. Their social skills suffer. Their attention spans shrink. They can't focus on anything that doesn't give them instant gratification.
And the scary part? When they grow up, they're perfect consumers. They're already trained to need constant stimulation, instant rewards, and they can't tolerate boredom. Perfect for a world that wants to sell them things, hook them on services, and keep them scrolling forever.
The "Choesay" Conspiracy
Before you dismiss this as just another boring article about technology, let me ask you something. What if all of this is not by accident?
What if, just like the British used opium to weaken China, there are forces today using digital addiction to control us? Think about it. Who benefits when millions of people are addicted to their phones?
Tech companies, obviously - their stock prices depend on "engagement." Advertisers - they have a captive audience. Governments - people scrolling are not organizing, not questioning, not resisting.
A population addicted to screens is:
- Easy to track (every click monitored)
- Easy to influence (algorithms control what they see)
- Easy to distract (just launch the next viral trend)
- Easy to sell to (they've been profiled down to their deepest desires)
- Easy to control (they're too busy watching TikTok to notice what's happening around them)
Why would China limit gaming time for children to just a few hours per week while Western countries encourage unlimited access? Why would the late Steve Jobs not let his own kids use iPads, while his company sold millions to other people's children?
Could it be that some people know exactly what these devices do to developing brains, and they're protecting their own while letting everyone else get hooked?
We already know social media algorithms are designed to make us angry, because anger creates engagement. This isn't conspiracy theory - this is documented fact.
So here's the real question: Are we choosing to give our children devices, or have we been conditioned to think it's normal, even necessary? Are we parenting, or have we become unpaid beta testers for the largest behavioral experiment in human history?
The Secret Power of Addiction
Here's something most of us don't realize - addiction isn't always the enemy. In fact, if you know how to channel it, addiction can be your secret weapon for success.
Ever heard of people who are "addicted" to reading? These people read book after book, they can't sleep until they finish that chapter, their house is full of books. But look at them - they're knowledgeable, they think deeper, they see the world differently. Bill Gates reportedly reads about 50 books a year. Is he addicted? Maybe. But that "addiction" made him one of the smartest people alive.
Meanwhile, some people cannot miss their morning run. Rain or shine, they're out there at 6am. Their friends call them crazy. But these same people are fit, healthy, mentally strong, and live longer. Athletes train until their bodies break because they're addicted to improvement. Michael Jordan was famously addicted to basketball practice - and that made him the GOAT (Greatest of all time).
The theory of positive addiction shows us that when you're hooked on something beneficial, your brain works the same way as negative addiction - but the outcome transforms your life. You're still getting that dopamine hit, but instead of destroying yourself, you're building yourself up. The mechanism is the same, but the direction is opposite.
Addiction is neutral. It's a tool. Like fire, it can warm your home or burn it down.
The question isn't whether addiction exists - it does, and it's powerful. The question is: Who's in control? Are you using addiction to build yourself up, or is someone else using it to break you down?
More importantly, when you hand that tablet to your child for "just 5 minutes" that turns into 2 hours, who's really in control? You, or the algorithm designed by hundreds of engineers whose job is to keep that child's eyes glued to the screen?
History showed us that addiction can destroy empires. Are we watching it happen again, just in a different form? Are our children the new Qing Dynasty, being fed a digital opium that weakens them from within?
Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe it's all harmless fun and progress but when your child screams like they're in pain because you took away their screen, you should ask yourself: What exactly have I allowed them to become addicted to?
What SAY you?
