This document discusses various modern human addictions. It begins by discussing laziness and how some people become addicted to avoiding work and effort. It then discusses potential solutions to overcoming laziness such as managing confusion, gaining perspective, building momentum, and comparing yourself to others. The document continues by examining other potential addictions such as getting one's own way, obsession with trivia, sex, being cool, technology, idolization, amusement/escapism, and always needing to be right. Internet and smartphone addiction is identified as the number one modern addiction due to most people's inability to disconnect from their devices.

2. MODERN HUMAN
ADDICTIONS

4. • “It’s true hard work never killed anybody, but I figure,
why take the chance?” — Ronald Reagan
10.Laziness:

5. • Everybody loves an easy life, but some will go further out of their way to
get it.
• We’ve all come across lazy so-and-so’s, skivers, lay-abouts and the odd
couch potato, but did you know that the desire for the sedate lifestyle can
become habit forming and even addictive?
• Dedicated skivers will sometimes spend a lot of energy plotting and
slinking out of work – sometimes using loopholes in working practices as
well as a number of tried and tested excuses.
• Anything which involves effort is often repulsive to these people; who will
always find ways not to bother; and can lead to them deliberately turning
down opportunities for the sake of the quiet and the mundane

7. SOLUTIONS:
CONFUSION AND LACK OF CLARITY
When you have too many ideas rattling around in your head, fighting for its
attention, you get overwhelmed and end up not wanting to do anything. In this
instance, you have to be like a gardener with an overgrown garden and start pruning
things back. The word 'decide' comes from a latin word meaning to cut away from --
meaning you have to cut away the alternatives and focus on the one thing you have
decided to do, and do it.
LACK OF PERSPECTIVE
Laziness often requires a shock to your awareness to break you out of the little
trance you are in. It's like at school or work where maybe you have a deadline to finish a
project by. It's in 2 weeks time, so you think, 'I've got plenty of time' and you goof off
playing. But then suddenly you get to the night before the deadline and you suddenly
realise how much work you have to do, and the shock wakes you out of your trance, and
gets you working flat out to try and get it done in time .We lazy people have to create for
ourselves the ability to think long term (because it doesn't come natural to us).

8. POWER OF MOMENTUM
When you are lazy, you have to get your energy going faster so that you can get
into motion and then let the momentum of your speed keep you moving. If you feel
sluggish and lazy, you just have to do something to get moving, like getting up out of the
chair, changing your physiology, breathing and moving like someone who is full of energy
and dynamism. Laziness is just a habit, and habits take consistent effort to change for at
least 30 days. Just keep moving and focusing on doing one thing after another.
EMOTIONAL SPURS
Another good way to get yourself going is by comparing yourself to others. There
comes a point where your laziness really hurts your self-esteem because you will find
yourself getting left behind by your peers. They will go on to have successes in business,
education, art, science, sports or whatever. This aspect of life is particularly noticeable if you
are wanting to attract a partner. If you are lazy, you will have very little to offer them.

9. • It’s MY way or the highway!” — Bill Parcells,
Dallas Cowboys
9.GETTING ONE’S OWN WAY:

10. • There are some people who really ‘get off’ on having their own way.
Bosses, domineering partners, testy toddlers, tantruming kids, teens,
mothers, teachers, the police – you name it.
• There can a certain esteem boost to getting ones own way, or having
the power to do so at will, and some folks take this and turn it into an
addiction.
• For example, certain bosses I’ve worked ‘under’ are happiest when
things are going completely nuts – so they get to dictate and direct,
or order people about.
• Many political systems also demand ‘their way’, and place strict
safeguards around to ensure their will is done. However, as Friedrich
Nietzsche once said “You have your way. I have my way. As for the
right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist.”

11. • “Summoned, one shuffles guiltily into the department of
trivia.” — John Sutherland
8.TRIVIA:

12. • Most of us love to learn and understand things, but how often do we
absorb tiny little bits of inconsequential trivia? More often than you may think!
• Tv advertisements and billboards coax us with facts and figures,
magazines deliver tantalizing tit-bits of scandal and gossip, and the internet
fills our minds with thousands of facts – some of which are completely wrong.
• How many of us read the daily newspapers today only for it to become
yesterdays news’ tomorrow. The world is full of trivia.
• A trivia addict is often someone who’s main pleasure in life is to
memorize random facts and spout them off to onlookers in an attempt to
make themselves look good, and who often dreams of winning the pub quiz or
a game show for a huge cash prize.

13. SOLUTION:
 Modification of your behaviour and attitude towards using Facebook can help cure your
Facebook addiction. you spend on Facebook in a way that it will not interfere with the
time you need to spend for other important things like doing chores, studying your
lesson or other tasks that you need to do.
 One of the best ways to cure Facebook addiction would be to become more responsible
and to impose self discipline especially on the time allotted for using one’s Facebook
account.
 Another way to cure a Facebook addiction is to find other worthwhile and productive
activities to spend your time with. Engaging in sports activities after work or school is a
good way of diverting your time in spending long hours of sitting while connected with
the social network site.
 If you think your activities or addiction in Facebook is becoming seriously unreasonable,
you might consider deleting your account and avoiding visiting the site
completely. There are tons of other techniques to socialize with people. We just need to
understand that are lot of interesting things in this world apart from Facebook.

14. • “Technology… the knack of so arranging the world that
we don’t have to experience it.” — Max Frisch
7.AMUSEMENT/ESCAPISM

15. • Another often overlooked addition is the habit of constantly
occupying the mind with things designed for occupying the mind.
Traditionally, alcohol has always been used as the main form of escapism
– along with music, games, drugs and procreation.
• Today we have so many more, and modern technology and
media make sure we are only a click away from expunging everyday
tedium. It is not uncommon for an addict to switch on a TV or a computer,
a Hi-Fi or a video games machine as soon as they enter a room, and will
often leave those machines idling in the background as ‘comfort noise’, or
just in case they may be of use later.
• A TV can work very much like a drug, and many drug users claim
they use drugs for the escapism rather than any other effect. If the
addiction is left unchecked, victims can spend more time removed from
our world than actually participating within it.

16. SOLUTION:
In order to find happiness and wellbeing, you have to deal with
the root causes of your problems. Stop playing games with yourself and
stop pretending that everything is okay.
Rather, recognize that you have problems that you can't untangle
without professional help. It's high time to step out of your comfort zone
and invest in your own wellbeing.
The first step is the most difficult one to take since it requires
both courage and motivation, but once you are in therapy everything
starts to flow. You will have appointments and meet your therapist
regularly, which breaks the isolation and gives your life some structure.

17. • Let every man be respected as an individual and no
man idolized.” — Albert Einstein
6.IDOLIZATION:

18. • Sometimes known as a ‘crush’ a fan of a particular subject, person or group can
sometimes become so engrossed in the ‘aura’ surrounding that thing that they become
fanatical to the point of idolization.
• Pop groups and movie stars are usually the favorite, and fanatics can often collect
any material relating to their idol they can lay their hands on.
• Movies such as Star Wars, Star Trek, the Lord of the Rings and the Rocky Horror
Picture Show have all seen their fans become addicted to them; often watching and re-
watching their favorites hundreds of times over.
• Idolization addiction can be related to one thing or person, or many things and
people. An idolizer of the Punk era may be just as addicted to Punk as a lifetime fan of
Harrison Ford is to their hero.
• It can be as simple as rearranging ones social life around a favorite TV show –
which to the addict becomes ‘unmissable’ – or buying a specific magazine for a
weekly/monthly fix.

19. • “The trouble is not that players have sex the night before a
game. It’s that they stay out all night looking for it.” —
Casey Stengel
5.SEX:

20. • The need for sex in ones life is more prominent in some than in others. To some,
the sex drive is relatively subconscious, and the media repeatedly nudges this from afar
with advertisements and products designed to stimulate.
• To others, sex is a compulsion to the point where their own self-esteem hangs upon
it. Sexual addiction is not as uncommon as you might think. Addicts usually spend most of
their social lives eyeing up potential partners in order to have sex; they are often cocky,
brash, and think nothing of ‘making out’ with potential candidates wherever they go.
• They often treat their partners chauvinistically (i.e. without loyalty, consideration or
respect), and think nothing of the ‘one night stand’. To these people, the idea of ‘getting a
life’ is to get a sex life; and often their idea of a good night out basically involves
manipulating their way back to the bedroom.
• Some teens develop a more benign form of sex addiction; sometimes called ‘sex
adulation’; but usually grow out of it by their early to mid 20’s.

21. SOLUTION:
Most sex addicts get so sick and tired of their sex addiction that they waste most
of their lives looking for a fast "in and out" cure to stop, unfortunately a fast "in and out"
cure does not exist. It takes time to overcome a sex addiction.
Instead of looking for that fast "in and out" cure look for comptent help, who can
help you correctly stop your sex addiction and help you stay stopped through out your
life.
Let's face it you have been acting sexually addictive for years it will not just stop
in a day or a week with programs, techniques, which claim you can stop anytime, any
day of the week.
The sooner you overcome your addiction the better because with time addictions
only get worse.
Addictions do no just fade away the longer you act addictively the longer it takes
to overcome an addiction

22. • The world belongs to the enthusiast who keeps cool.” —
William McFee
4.COOL:

23. • Cool is everywhere, and can mean anything from ‘being in with the in crowd’ to
being completely unique in ones self. Similarly, anything can be used to
promote ‘cool’ and to receive that ego kick and a boost to the self-esteem by
recognizing it.
• Those addicted to ‘cool’ buy the right toothpaste, wear the right cloths, have
the right hairstyle, buy the right car, the right fashion accessories, and the right
furniture. A serious addict will seek out ‘cool’ jobs (such as a theme park
attendant, a volunteer, or a web site designer), a ‘cool’ place to live – and a
‘cool’ building to live within (such as a studio or flat), even going so far as to
choose a deliberately ‘cool’ holiday destination .
• The danger is that because ‘cool’ as so easily available, it’s easy to become
addicted to buying increasingly more things; perhaps in the hope of maintaining
some kind of social status. Cool addicts are sometimes quite shallow people,
sometimes with a strong need for social acceptance.

24. • Technology makes it possible for people to gain control
over everything, except over technology” — John Tudor
3.TECHNOLOGY:

25. • Over the last 100 years, technology has diversified and spread into almost every
home in the world. There are gadgets and gizmos for everything; including the things we
never thought we needed – such as automatic egg poachers, USB fridges, and devices that
help you breath the air in a toilet u-bend in case of a fire.
• Technology is also very cheap today compared to only a few years ago, and now a
‘miracle device’ such as a pocket calculator is almost a disposable object. There are geeks
out there, but there are also technology addicts – who’s addiction is so mainstream it
becomes almost unnoticeable.
• A technology addict will ensure that the latest and most cutting edge devices
frequent the home. They will almost certainly have a BIG TV, will opt to change their
mobile phone many times a year, and will almost certainly have the latest gadgets such as
Sat-Nav, Blu-Ray, Hi-Def (and many other hyphenated devices).
• Sometimes, tiny little objects can give these people away; such as a chrome plated
credit card sized micro beard trimmer, or any number of similarly obscure online auction
friendly items.

26. SOLUTION:
Set time limits when using your technology.
Write a “Not-to-do list.” E.g. don’t check email before 10 a.m. to avoid immediate
reactive mode.
Make a list of things you could do instead of being on your device(s) and try to do
them in your spare time
Go Green.:Choose outdoor activities instead of technology. Give your brain a breather
and keep it from becoming overloaded by taking a 15-minute walk outside or flipping through
a book with photographs of natural environments.
Find your pleasure point: Your iPhone can act as a stimulus to your brain, meaning
you get a feel-good dopamine rush from checking it, which furthers your technology addiction.
Retrain your brain by actively doing something else that makes you happy instead of always
reaching into your pocket.
Find a buddy or accountability partner to help you with your problem. Don’t go it
alone on the road to recovery, because you’re likely to revert to your old habits. Ask a
colleague or spouse to help you enforce your new rules.

27. • “Deep down, beneath all our insecurities, beneath all
our hopes for and beliefs in equality, each of us believes
we’re better than anyone else.” — Audrey Beth Stein
2.BEING RIGHT:

28. • Being right comes in at number one basically because it is one of the
oldest and least diagnosed addictions here, as well as it being very common.
• First of all, most people who are addicted to being right never get as far
as realizing it or having it pointed out. They get to this stage often through a
superiority complex re-enforced by getting their own way in discussions – to
the point of intimidating others and reproaching their views, while standing
rigidly by their own.
• The payoff in all this is that the person may feel self justified, socially
upstanding or just plain smug. ‘Being right’ addicts sometimes give away
their intentions and secret vested interest in manipulation by using the word
‘No’ to mean ‘You’re wrong’; at which point the person will offer their own
view as the ‘correct’ one.
• If you fail to comply, and choose to question the ‘being right’ addict,
things can often turn very nasty; and it is sometimes wiser to change the
subject rather than try to deflect their dogma with open logic.

29. SOLUTION:
Most of us who are addicted to being right have had years of reinforcing
habits. Extracting ourselves from the mesh is no easy task.
It starts with small things.
If you can learn to simply let the small things go, you are on the road to
recovery.
Don’t argue with the waiter over whether or not you said you wanted the
dressing to the side. It doesn’t matter who is right
.
True self confidence comes not from proving to other people who is right and
who is wrong but proving to yourself. And admitting to yourself when it is you
who is wrong.
If you can start with the small things, you can eventually work up to
admitting that you gained 5 pounds of fat because you set poor goals or because
you failed to follow through.
And without trying to prove yourself right (and other people wrong), you’ll
find creative ways to achieve all your goals.

30. • In the absence of clearly-defined goals, we become
strangely loyal to performing daily trivia until ultimately
we become enslaved by it.” — Robert A. Heinlein
1.INTERNET&SMART PHONES:

31. • It’s hard to believe, but the World Wide Web wasn’t even around 25 years
ago. Now, there are more than a billion users worldwide. We can’t avoid our
mobile devices, which makes it hard for those with “problem Internet use” (a
controversial diagnosis known as “Internet Addiction Disorder”), to break the
habit.
• Researchers have been talking about this addiction or something similar
since the earliest days of the Internet, and it’s estimated that one in eight
Americans have at least one sign of problem use — including such a strong
attraction to the Crack, er, Blackberry or other e-data device that they risk
losing their job or family.
• Some clinics specializing in this disorder are using computers themselves
to crack the addiction, setting reminders for specified times which alert users
of how long they’ve been on the computer and that it’s time to document
their usage and their emotions at the time of use in an online diary.

32. SOLUTION:
"Be conscious of the situations and emotions that make you want to check
your phone. Is it boredom? Loneliness? Anxiety? Maybe something else
would soothe you."
• "Be strong when your phone beeps or rings. You don't always have to
answer it. In fact, you can avoid temptation by turning off the alert signals."
• "Be disciplined about not using your device in certain situations (such as
when you're with children, driving or in a meeting) or at certain hours (for
instance, between 9 p.m. and 7 a.m.).