This statement alone could be enough to qualify your habit as an addiction, FYI. If you compulsively fill your free time with a behavior that you describe as “excessive”, then that’s a sign that this is not a healthy behavior.
Perhaps it’s more important to realize that something doesn’t need to fit the exact definition of “addiction” in a textbook for it to be an u healthy behavior.
> However, since I never miss them when I have better things to do, it never fits the definition of addiction.
This doesn’t actually disqualify you from addiction like you think.
For example, an alcoholic might drink excessively when they find themselves in a situation or location that triggers their excessive behavior (going to a bar, driving past a liquor store on their way home, attending a sports event that serves alcohol). Part of their treatment would include modifying their behavior to avoid those triggers. For you, the trigger could be as simple as having large amounts of unplanned free time.
> On the other hand, I also don't drink, smoke, or consumer caffein without a purpose, so maybe I just don't tend to get addicted.
I had a friend who was in the addiction treatment and recovery industry for a while. He said it was actually very common for people to end up in rehab because they believed themselves to be immune to addiction or to “not have an addictive personality”. This created an opening for a lot of denial and rationalization, which led to deeper and more protracted problems before they did something about it.
A common example is a functional alcoholic: They can go for years denying that their use of alcohol is a problem because they’re holding down a job and they may skip days of drinking under certain conditions (something better to do) without going into full on classic withdrawal. However, they still have a problem and still default to drinking excessively during bouts of idle time. Excessively is the key word in this situation, and it’s the key word in your own post.
To be honest, the fact that you described an undesirable habit as “excessive” with 8 hours of use per day and then two sentences later tried to rationalize yourself as someone who doesn’t get addicted would be a major red flag that this behavior is problematic. Addicts tend to go through phases of rationalizing away their problem before they accept it.
However, isn't psychological or physic strain also a part of addiction?
I don't feel bad while doing it and I don't feel bad while not doing it (just bored).
The way you describe it, it sounds like through the day, when you have something better to do you don't engage with devices.
But how about longer periods? Like a full week? That can be a test to see if it causes you stress.
I even forget to take my meds sometimes.
I tend to eat more unhealthy food when I'm bored or depressed, but the moment I have an interesting task, I forget to eat the whole day.
VS
9% of men without ADHD and 5% of women without ADHD
Fair enough, more than double. However, not the majority of the people with ADHD, so it could still be a ADHD-relates boredom problem and less a typical addiction issue. (Which doesn't make the results less dangerous, but the mechanisms that cause it different)
Sources:
It seems to me that neurotypical people don't have that issue.
Then again, I don't think I'm close enough to any neurotypical person to judge that.
If you manage to stay away from it for a period of time you start to see that it was just a lie, a skewed perspective.
Would it be reasonable to restate this as - media is the ~best thing available to you, 4-8h/day?
And by 'Available' I mean like 'readily reachable' and not like 'available if you reorder your life'. No wrong answer; just me wondering.
I have all these vocations and avocations available at my fingertips, they just don't always feel interesting.
I would do (and have done) genealogy for that kind of time. I think I can best describe it as overlap between it and addiction behavior. I base it on:
..how people close to me feel about it
..how often it squeezes out other worthwhile and important uses of my time
..that I keep justifications at the ready and think about others who do the same
I have no declaration to make about it other than I need to be mindful.
People I care are usually one of the reasons, I forget about excessively using media. So, they don't suffer from it.
"..how often it squeezes out other worthwhile and important uses of my time"
Theoretically? More often than not!
Practically, as I have ADHD it's not easy to define worthwhile consistently.
"..that I keep justifications at the ready and think about others who do the same"
Usually, I don't think explicitly about it. I don't justify it, I just do it for a while (more or less excessively) and when I deem other task more worthwhile (for whatever reason), I forget about them completely.
However, since I never miss them when I have better things to do, it never fits the definition of addiction.
On the other hand, I also don't drink, smoke, or consumer caffein without a purpose, so maybe I just don't tend to get addicted.