People Are Sharing The Modern Addictions Nobody Really Thinks About, And Yes, Dopamine Is On This List
When we think of addiction, our minds typically go to substances like drugs or alcohol. But addiction can take many forms — some so subtle and normalized that we don't even recognize them as problematic. So when a now-deleted Reddit user asked, "What's an addiction that nobody considers?" the responses revealed how our modern world has created countless ways to chase dopamine hits and develop unhealthy dependencies. Here's what they had to say:
1."Validation addiction, aka the compulsive need for approval, praise, or recognition from others."
—u/RevealIntelligent737
2."Nasal spray. This one is kind of obscure, but the thought of having a stuffy nose and needing more and more and more of that stuff is kind of scary."
—u/TazzzTM
"I literally cut myself off 10 years ago because it was causing me problems."
—bobbutson
"This happened to me in fifth grade! It was so severe that I needed to use it at least once an hour, or my nose was completely blocked up. The addiction lasted weeks. I would bring it to school and sneak huffs of it from my backpack during class, pretending I was rummaging for something."
—u/iamnotahermitcrab
3."Habits that put us into the same patterns we're already familiar with. For example, let's say someone was previously abused and has low self-esteem, so they now gravitate toward people who mistreat them, etc."
—u/crypticcryptidscrypt
4."Food."
—u/LivingSalt9816
"This doesn't get talked about enough. Someone can truly quit any of these other addictions. You cannot quit eating. And even if we could, eating is the center of most cultures, communities, and fellowship."
—u/GingerrGina
5."Shopping."
—u/blissfulheadgames
6."Victim mindset."
—u/tokenasian99
Related: 23 Cute, Happy, And Wholesome Posts I Saw On The Internet This Week That You Absolutely Need To See
7."Gambling is often overlooked. It's also not just lotto tickets and bingo. Casino apps, sports betting, online gaming 'mystery boxes,' and day trading are just a few examples of things that use the same mechanics."
—u/threadbarefemur
8."Dieting, eating disorders and/or disordered eating, and counting calories."
—u/Global_Concept1331
9."Social media."
—u/Goddess_alma__
"It's a bigger issue than that. Social media falls under dopamine abuse, basically. It's just a constant onslaught of the pleasure ventures in the brain these days. Companies research ways to hit those centers and use the marketing to sell it. Small things like the action of swiping or flavors in food. Salt. Porn. Video games. Social media. YouTube showing you all the things you want but can't go for. All of these things are beneficial targeted one at a time, but goddamn, it fries people's brains all at once."
—u/Klashus
Related: Holy Crap, I Can't Stop Laughing At These 28 Painfully Awkward And Embarrassing Conversations
10."Working all the time."
—u/MotherEarth1919
11."Dermatillomania, or skin-picking disorder."
—u/strangekey2
12."Dating apps. They're like a game, and the incentive for winning is your orgasm."
—u/Present-Loss5880
13."Porn."
—u/PEACH_MINAJ
14."Sleeping in all the time."
—u/Tough_Representative
"Sleeping in general. I genuinely can't stop napping during the day. It's awful."
—u/lights-camera-bees
15."Weed. While it's not an addictive substance, people definitely become emotionally dependent. One problem is that weed makes you okay with being unproductive and bored, and many people use it as a crutch."
—u/8v9
16."Phones."
—u/Then_Coyote_1244
"That's me — same with my iPad. When I iron my clothes, I put on YouTube on my iPad. Eating dinner? Netflix. Drinking a cup of tea? TikTok. Waiting on the bus? Reddit. My phone is always in my hand. I take it with me when I go to bed, when I take a shower, when I walk the dog, when I have to get something from the attic, etc. I miss growing up in the '90s and not having a phone — just being present in the moment. But somehow, I can't do it anymore."
—u/Dazzling-Yam-1151
What do you think after reading these responses? Are you recognizing some (completely normalized) patterns in your own life or others? What hidden addictions do you think are affecting people today? Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments below.
The National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline is 1-800-950-6264 (NAMI) and provides information and referral services; GoodTherapy.org is an association of mental health professionals from more than 25 countries who support efforts to reduce harm in therapy.
The National Eating Disorders Association helpline is 1-800-931-2237; for 24/7 crisis support, text 'NEDA' to 741741.
If you or someone you know is in immediate danger as a result of domestic violence, call 911. For anonymous, confidential help, you can call the 24/7 National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 (SAFE) or chat with an advocate via the website.
Also in Internet Finds: Lawyers Are Sharing Their Juiciest "Can You Believe It?!" Stories From The Courtroom, And They're As Surprising As You'd Expect
Also in Internet Finds: 51 People Who Quickly Discovered Why Their Hilariously Clueless Partner Was Single Before Meeting Them
Also in Internet Finds: People Are Sharing "The Most Believable Conspiracy Theories," And Now I'm Questioning Everything I Thought I Knew
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
WebMD
41 minutes ago
- WebMD
Living with Bipolar Disorder as a High-Achieving Woman
When Bipolar Disorder Meets Ambition Living with bipolar disorder isn't just about mood swings: It's about carrying an invisible weight that few people understand. For high-achieving women like me, that weight becomes even heavier. We're expected to hold everything together – family, career, responsibilities – while quietly battling chaos inside our own minds. The burnout that comes with bipolar disorder doesn't announce itself. It creeps in. One day you're pushing through your to-do list, the next you can't move from bed. It's not just exhaustion, it's emotional overload. The Mental Load No One Sees Living with bipolar disorder often feels like swimming in circles in the dark. You crave peace, but when a sliver of light finally appears, you don't trust it. You brace for the next crash. The fear of the unknown becomes just as heavy as the depression itself. When the depressive episodes hit, so do the thoughts: Why am I not like her? What's wrong with me? Did I cause this? I remember wondering if I was being punished for running away from home, for becoming a teen mom, for talking back, for leaving in the middle of the night. Burnout at Every Stage of Life The emotional burnout was always present, but it peaked during life transitions: When I became a teen mom When I went back to school After every child I had When I lost my husband When I tried dating again Each season added more weight. I was living life on edge, constantly trying to avoid pain. But when it finally hit, it hit hard. And it kept me stuck. Postpartum Depression and Family Silence I didn't recognize postpartum depression at first. I just knew I couldn't enjoy my babies the way I wanted to. I felt detached, overwhelmed, and guilty. Years later, I realized my mom had likely experienced the same thing. It opened my eyes to how generational silence keeps us sick. No one in my family knew I was struggling. They saw me tired, maybe reactive, but not in pain. I kept it inside. That silence cost me my peace. What I Missed While I Was Surviving Looking back, I see how much I missed: Real joy in motherhood Emotional connection in relationships Moments of financial peace True rest and presence Smiles that weren't just a mask The True Cost of Emotional Burnout Bipolar disorder is unpredictable. The highs and lows create stress and anxiety about the future. You lose your most valuable resources: time, energy, clarity, even money. And when you're stuck in that cycle, you miss the life happening right in front of you. I didn't know how to feel peace. I didn't know how to be present. I didn't know how to listen to my own voice, my intuition, my feelings. But I do now, and I support other women by helping them master their emotions, overcome burnout, and finally feel the peace and progress they've been chasing.
Forbes
an hour ago
- Forbes
First Pill For Obstructive Sleep Apnea Shows Promise In Phase 3 Study
The American Academy of Sleep Medicine has indicated that an estimated 26 percent of adults between ... More the ages of 30 and 70 years have sleep apnea. (Photo: Getty) You could say that it's difficult to mask the challenges that people with obstructive sleep apnea face every day. But if this pill from Apnimed, Inc. eventually gets approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, it could give those OSA sufferers who are having trouble wearing a continuous positive airway pressure mask while sleeping another option. Apnimed recently announced rather eye-opening topline results from the SynAIRgy phase 3 clinical trial of their AD109 pill. A little over half (51.2%) of the study participants who took the once-a-day pill had a reduction in their OSA severity while nearly a quarter (22.3%) experienced achieved complete OSA control. Obstructive Sleep Apnea Affects A Quarter Of The Adult Population More options would probably be a welcome possibility for the over 25 million adults in the U.S. who suffer from OSA, based on the National Healthy Sleep Awareness Project. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine has indicated that an estimated 26 percent of adults between the ages of 30 and 70 years have sleep apnea. That may be an underestimate because people are kind of asleep when they are experiencing signs and symptoms of OSA. It could take someone else trying to share a bed with you to tell you that you are snoring or even gasping for breath when you are asleep. OSA is one type of sleep apnea. Sleep apnea is when you repeatedly stop and start breathing while sleeping. Its important to know if this is happening because breathing is sort of important. Sleep apnea can lead to sleep deprivation, which, in turn, can lead to daytime drowsiness and over the longer term various chronic medical conditions, as I've described previously in Forbes. One such condition is high blood pressure, which in turn can raise the risk of heart disease and stroke. OSA is when the apnea is due to your throat muscles relaxing too much and blocking your airway. That's why one possible sign of OSA is snoring, which can occur when air tries to pass through the narrowed airway. The following illustration shows what can happen to the airway with OSA: (Illustration: Getty) Here Are The Current Treatment Options For Obstructive Sleep Apnea All of the currently available treatment options for OSA are focused on one thing: keep that airway open as much as possible. Changes in sleep position could help. For example, sleeping on your side, particularly the left side, can keep the airway open better than sleeping on your back. the latter can allow your tongue and soft palate to collapse into your airway. One oft-mentioned treatment option is the CPAP mask. The name is a clue to what it does. You wear a mask that will continuously will blow air into your nose or nose and mouth. That air is supposed to provide positive pressure to keep your airways open, sort of like blowing air into one of those balloons that can become a balloon animal. Although a variety of such masks are available, wearing such a mask throughout the night may not necessarily be the most pleasant, comfortable or sexy thing. Another option is some kind of mouthpiece designed to keep the throat open during sleep. Some such devices thrust your lower jaw forward. Other such devices hold your tongue is particular positions. When OSA gets particularly severe, surgery may be needed. This could be surgery to remove excess tissue in the neck that may be blocking the airway or move forward the jaw bones to give more space behind the tongue and soft palate. Life-threatening cases of OSA may even require a tracheostomy, which is when a hole is made in your throat and a breathing tube is inserted there. Now you may have heard about one of the glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists, Zepbound, getting FDA-approval for severe OSA. This would be mainly for folks who have OSA due mainly to obesity. Excess fatty tissue in the neck can indeed predispose you to OSA. Therefore, weight loss can be helpful in reducing OSA. However, many people suffer from OSA do not have excess body weight. For many, it's just the anatomy of the airway and the way the nerves happen to be working or not working that allows too much collapse of the airway. The Apnimed Pill Could Become The First Prescription Pull For Obstructive Sleep Apnea This brings us to how AD109 is supposed to work. The medication is a combo of 2.5 mg of aroxybutynin, a new type of antimuscarinic, and 75 mg atomoxetine, which inhibits the reuptake of the neurotransmitter norepinephrine, thereby increasing the time it spends in between nerves. These work to increase the nerve signals sent through the hypoglossal motor nucleus that control the muscles in the upper airway. The medication has already gone through more than 15 Phase 1 and 2 clinical trials. A Phase 2b clinical trial named MARIPOSA showed that those taking AD109 experienced statistically significant reductions in their AHIs. AHI stands for apnea-hypopnea index, a commonly used measure of how severe sleep apnea is. The AHI is the average number of apneas, which are complete pauses in breathing, and hypopneas, which are partial reductions in breathing, that happen per hour of sleep during a sleep study. Normally, this should be less than five. Having five to 14 such events per hour classifies you as having mild sleep apnea. When this goes up to 15 to 29, it's moderate sleep apnea. The severe range is 30 or more such events per hour. Next up was the SynAIRgy trial, a randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-arm of the medication designed to extend for six months. It included 646 adult study participants with OSA who either couldn't tolerate or didn't want to use CPAP. Around half (49.1%) of the study participants were women. At the beginning of the trial, 34.4% had mild OSA, 42.2% moderate and 23.2% severe. Patrick Strollo, Jr., MD, Vice Chair of Medicine for Veteran's Affairs and a Professor of Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. served as the study chair of SynAIRgy. Strollo described the results so far as 'highly encouraging." At the 26-week mark in the SynAIRgy trial, those taking AD109 every day had on average a 55.6% reduction in their AHI. As mentioned previously, 51.2% actually dropped in sleep apnea disease severity categories with 22.3% going to the no apnea category, namely less than five events per hour. Those taking AD109 also on average had improvements in the amount of oxygen they were getting into their blood via their lungs. There were also no AD109-related serious adverse events with the medication in general being well-tolerated. Topline results from a second Phase 3 clinical trial, LunAIRo, will probably be available by the third quarter of 2025. All of this means that the company is currently on track to submit a New Drug Application for AD109 to the FDA by early 2026. If it reaches the market, AD109 would be the first prescription pill specifically for obstructive sleep apnea—which, again, affects quite a lot of people out there, probably much more than people realize. So don't sleep on what happens next.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Post-storm resource center open through July 2 in downtown Bemidji
Jun. 29—BEMIDJI — A post-storm resource center will be open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. through Wednesday, July 2, at the former First National Bank building, 429 Minnesota Ave. NW. The resource center, previously located at the Sanford Center, has been relocated to better assist residents impacted by the June 21 storm. The center offers the following resources: * Hot meals prepared by the Salvation Army. Lunch is served from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., and dinner is served from 4 to 6 p.m. * Cases of bottled water * Individual snack items * Pre-packaged hot meals * Cleaning supplies For those who lost food due to the storm or power outages, a Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Minnesota Family Investment Program (MFIP) food benefit replacement program is available. To learn more, visit the second floor of Beltrami County Health and Human Services at 616 America Ave. NW or call (218) 333-8300. The deadline to apply is Tuesday, July 1. The resource center is supported by Beltrami County Public Health, the United Way of the Bemidji Area, American Red Cross, the Salvation Army, Community Resource Connections, the Bemidji Fire Department, as well as local and community donors.
