Actually waitwaitwait can I add more onto this? I hate to hijack a post but i have been attempting to study this EXTENSIVELY and wanna share what i've learned!
Addiction is defined as "not having control over doing, taking, or using something to the point where it could be harmful to you" (www.nhs.uk/live-well/addiction-support/addiction-what-is-it/). Addiction is a prevalent issue in our society, and though most people live under the misconception that addictions can only exist in the context of drugs, they can very easily be created with almost any concept!
To the things you've pointed out, they very much DO exist! And I know you aren't saying that they *don't* exist, but I would like to elaborate on what specifically they can be explained as!
AI, porn, and sex are very much addictions that CAN exist and have become increasingly prominent over the growth of the internet. The internet is one of the easiest ways our world has come to share information and content, and with the widespread share of this content comes with people overindulging to unhealthy degrees for it (www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0144929X.2023.2283201). This is a strong argument for the fact that if something can be unhealthily interacted with, then it CAN become an addiction when it falls under its definition!
HOWEVER! The other consistent issue with media is the desensitization of different concepts and their meanings. People have become increasingly uncaring towards serious conversations and events, and this leads to misuse of phrases, accusations, and mental disorder diagnoses! (SEE: The Epstein Files being turned into a joke on many platforms, the constant presence of people claiming to have a mental illness when they very much do not, and people accusing others of heinous acts over the smallest of things.) This desensitization is leading towards the misuse of the word "addiction," which is the core problem behind these titles!
When people commonly use the titles mentioned here, they ARE USUALLY being incorrect! Just as you've said, they quite likely do mean the things you have offered! However, there are dozens of people who DO have these kinds of addictions!
Sex addiction as defined on nhs.uk (1st link cited) as "sexual behaviour that feel out of control, is causing you or others distress, or is affecting your life and relationships." Again, Internet addiction is defined as "people may spend hours each day and night surfing the internet or gaming while neglecting other aspects of their lives." And one of the most well-known types of addiction is, of course, gambling, where it is defined as being able to harm many areas of your life INCLUDING "relationships, physical and mental health, and finances."
Now, there are dozens more definitions I can cite, but what is the commonality between all of these? That's right! AFFECTING LIFE, RELATIONSHIPS, PHYSICAL AND MENTAL HEALTH, AND CAUSES YOU OR OTHER DISTRESS!
Ai, porn, and sex CAN become addictions when they effect your life to an unhealthy extent as I have stated! They ARE a type of mental illness that CAN develop, but just like any others CAN BE WORKED THROUGH AND OVERCOME! Here's the core part of what I want to explain:
Drug addiction is a common type of addiction due to its direct influence over the mind, and people have overcome and broken out of these addictions time and time again. Quite a few people have become dependent on AI as a companion as well, and even more people turn towards sexual pleasure as something to obsess over! Addiction is inherently an obsession that harms the person's life in multiple ways, and with the growth of the internet, many people gain access to concepts they can easily become obsessed with and get addicted to. The addictions you have listed here and the exact ways you have offered to describe them as alternatives are still addictions! They are 1) causing harm to the person, 2) causing harm to their relationships, and 3) causing harm to others!
Now, as for the second part of your post, I agree wholeheartedly. As I've stated, "addiction" is becoming widely misused as a phrase. Just the same, however, addiction is a lot more common than most people think, and a lot more people do experience it. However, the fact is that overcoming addiction is wholly dependent on the person. Yes, it is a clinical disease and it makes overcoming it nigh impossible, but nobody else can do it for them! Despite all of this, addicted people hold SOME responsibility over themselves for what they do!
In aggreeance with you, people are using addiction in a way to absolve themselves of blame by framing it as "uncontrollable" and "unable to be fixed," which is understandable, but plenty of people who never experience true addiction are using it to absolve themselves of blame while ALSO placing addicted folks in an extremely bad light by making them seem like they are doing this purposefully to avoid blame!
Not only is it being used to absolve themselves from blame, but like you have said, people are using the phrase to place *guilt* on those who experience joy in something a group may disagree with. This guilt is NOT something that inherently makes the enjoyment an addiction, but it IS the continued unstoppable use of it knowing that it is bad for yourself, others, and relationships and feeling guilt over THAT that IS! Guilt born from puritanical ideals from outside parties does NOT make it an addiction! Please inspect WHAT is harming and BEING harmed before labelling it as such!
The word "addiction" needs to be properly understood before being used, but there is still the requirement of acknowledgement that many, many people can and have experienced addiction in ways other than we know personally!
TLDR; The addictions stated above DO exist and are in fact Very Bad, but the word addiction itself is being so widely used to guilt people and absolve blame at the same time that it needs to be placed on the top shelf for safekeeping until people learn to truly understand it.
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