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Many more things than I previously thought can be considered addiction, so I was wondering whether an addiction is always bad

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  • $\begingroup$ Sleep can be considered an addiction, and its not bad at all :) $\endgroup$
    – Enoque Duarte
    Commented Jun 15, 2018 at 10:06
  • $\begingroup$ This is a really mind-opening question. For example, could a person be addicted to defensive driving, responsible parenting, or being on time? "You've got to help me, doctor! My friends keep teasing me for eating 'healthy' but I can't sustain a change. I think I might be addicted to broccoli, carrots, and whole grains, can you help?" $\endgroup$
    – Robert Columbia
    Commented Jun 8, 2022 at 19:59

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As I pointed out in Technical term for "hidden addictions", the term addiction is defined as not having control over doing, taking or using something to the point where it could be harmful to you. Often it can start with a habit but then it becomes an addiction because there is a compulsion to continue the habit.

You can continue with your daily life without carrying out a task which is habit, but if you are addicted to doing it you have a feeling of necessity to do it otherwise you cannot function.

Addiction is most commonly associated with gambling, drugs, alcohol and nicotine, but it's possible to be addicted to just about anything

So to answer your question, there can be good habits but there are no good types of addiction as they affect your life to the point where you "cannot live" without the addiction.

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    $\begingroup$ Glasser (1976) wrote a fairly comprehensive book on Exercise Addiction that used the term to refer to both healthful and detrimental compulsions to exercise, I believe based on the idea that there could be a chemical/withdrawal component to an exercise regimen that was otherwise health promoting, and that it in fact could help someone maintain the regimen. However, the concept of positive addictions has been criticized and largely abandoned since then (Landolfi, 2013). $\endgroup$
    – PhiloT
    Commented Jun 15, 2018 at 13:43

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