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Comment by dusklight | Hacker News Reader

Pretty sure you are addicted to oxygen. You are probably addicted to hackernews also. This is not meant to be a banal comment. Addiction is not necessarily a bad thing. You could be addicted to hard work, for example. You could be addicted to your family. Being so addicted to your family that you would be willing to die in order to protect them is not necessarily a bad thing.

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Addiction isn't typically construed as mere dependence or devotion. Our taboo of addiction stems from the negative consequences of maintaining the object of dependence.

Forsaking all news sources except HN is narrow-minded, but not a good example of addiction. Spending hours refreshing, and replying to all the comments to the point where you are neglecting other responsibilities: addiction.

edit: oops, redundant reply because I had this open for 30 min & didn't refresh before replying.

Addiction or dependence or obsession is usually defined as a behavior that causes negative consequences for the individual that they would prefer to avoid.

In that case, oxygen and protecting your family would not be regarded as addictions.

Protecting your family could actually become an addiction/obsession depending on its intensity. Someone could be so intent on protecting their family constantly that they avoided sleep, or spent much of their money on weapons/security system upgrades, or prevented them leaving their home. In that case, all of those would certainly be negative repercussions.

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