Addictive personality, real/not real? (zaibatsu), 08/22/2019
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I've heard people mention the "addictive personality" in the
past, but have  never really read up on it.  I still haven't
delved, but I did look  at the gopherpedia page at least[1].
First and foremost,  it's important to consider  the idea in
its intended form,  as a hypothesis. Too  often, people talk
about theory and  hypothesis (even in education)  as fact; I
don't see the value in such  a behavior, no matter how solid
the hypothesis may seem.

Upon  hearing mention  of  the  addictive personality,  I've
sometimes wondered  if I am  of the variety that  might have
one.  Gopherpedia's reference  to Lang's  research tells  me
that the following personality  factors might be indicative.
Quoted directly:

* Impulsivity  
* Sensation seeking 
* Nonconformity  combined  with  weak commitment to socially   
  valued  goals   for achievement 
* Social alienation and tolerance for deviance 
* Heightened stress coupled with lack of coping skills

Already things  aren't looking great;  I see quite a  bit of
these factors in my personality.

As  for genetic,  physical, and  biopsychosocial factors,  I
have no  idea other than my  father was an alcoholic  and my
parents were  divorced. There  are some  other dramas  in my
family tree that might have an influence as well.

Most  telling  for  me,  and  the  reason  why  the  subject
interests me  at all,  is the reality  that I've  dealt with
some addictive behaviors.  This is, in fact,  what this post
is  all  about.  Recently,  I've taken  Minecraft  back  up,
playing on  the SDF server. I  work for myself and  at home,
and so I can  play during the day if I  choose. I think I've
taken it up  in response to some life  challenges (see "lack
of coping skills"  in the list above), as  an easy emotional
way out.

Yesterday I snapped  out of my crazy long  enough to realize
that spending almost  an entire day playing a  video game is
not the kind of thing that  a person of my age and situation
should be doing. I decided that today, I would just skip it.

Of course,  I've also been  searching for the reasons  why I
haven't been  on gopher as  much recently. I think  the fact
that I've spent so many hours on MC is part of it.

I like  gopher, and I feel  like it helps me  have an outlet
for  thoughts, ideas,  feelings, and  the like.  It's is  an
inlet too, for ideas  and understanding and connection. It's
not perfect, but  nothing is. I'd like to get  back to it; I
think it's a  more viable coping mechanism than  MC. If only
gopher were a little more  addictive, I might have an easier
time.

[1] gopher://gopherpedia.com:70/0/Addictive personality