Addiction?

For my English 102 class I was asked to read an article named In Defense of Slow Reading by Paul M. Davis. At the beginning of his article, Paul likens himself to an addict using his former smoking habit and his Internet activities as an example. This made me wonder about the word addiction. I've always thought there were good addictions and bad addictions, but is any addiction really good? The quote by Oscar Wilde comes to mind, "Everything in moderation, including moderation".

I'm a smoker. A disgusting, smelly, lurk in the back alley so my clients don't see me smoking, pack a day, smoker. Smoking for me, is an emotional crutch. Anytime I feel overwhelmed, frightened, angry, sad, nervous, anxious, or just need to stop for a minute, I light up another stick. I know this causes cancer, I even announce to my colleagues that I'm heading out to "beg for cancer", when I head out to lurk in the back alley to puff away. By Mr. Davis' definition, I'm a full-on addict. 

To me an addict is something much more sinister than a mere smoker or Internet junky. To me an addict is more than self-destructive; they are like a bomb that goes off in every relationship they are a part of. Even stopping the behavior or substance they are addicted to doesn't stop them from finding a new insidious addiction to destroy the lives of themselves and everyone around them. I know because I have family members who are addicts, and trust me, they don't need to drink or do drugs to decimate their loved ones. Recovering addicts often replace their drug, alcohol, or insert whatever, addiction with control, manipulation, theft, lies, and abuse. I've experienced it first hand, on many occasions. A good friend recently made a comment about smokers hiking the cost of her health insurance. Maybe my self-destructive habit isn't as "self" destructive as I had thought. 

So I have begun to question, why do we become addicted to anything in the first place? Why do we as humans, with this incredibly diverse planet, with so many diverse distractions, get addicted to doing one thing over and over again? Why do we get caught in a loop? I mean there are a million things I could find to do to relieve my tensions and take a break, that don't involve destroying my lungs or hiking up insurance rates. All of the addicted souls I know, who continue to push the same destructive buttons to get where? 

Is it our "Lizard Brain", as described by Dr. Joseph Truncate? Or does the prevalence of addictive behavior in our society point to even bigger problems with the way our society is built?

Apparently this is still under debate by psychologists associated with Psychology Today. Their article on addiction is interesting, but poses even more questions as to the why's of it. This mysterious, sometimes life threatening, pattern of behavior called addiction. 

I do believe it's time for a cigarette.