> I tend to use media (games, chats, dating apps, social media, etc.) excessively (for 4-8h a day)

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.