Everything you think you know about addiction is wrong | Johann Hari | TED

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doubleshame · 2017-08 · Strong recommendation

This is my favourite addiction talk. Everything you think you know about addiction is wrong | Johann Hari [VIDEO]

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andrei_says_ · 2025-06 · Recommendation

If you are open to questioning the “junkies” and their “choice to be so” stereotype, you may find this TED talk useful. [VIDEO] Everything you think you know about addiction is wrong | Johann Hari

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dkersten · 2021-08 · Recommendation

Reminds me of this TED talk: [VIDEO] "Everything you think you know about addiction is wrong" , where he asserts that addiction isn't caused by the things we typically correlate with it. I was going to try to summarize, but I don't think I can do it justice. Its not long. > I think people drink and drug for a reason. We just mostly don't bother to try to figure out what the reason is for this specific person Absolutely. This is totally in line with what that guy says in the video too. One thing he says: "The opposite of addiction is connection." I know that personally, when I have problems that I struggle with and don't feel like anyone in my life can help me with or talk to about them (sadly has happened once or twice in my life), I have a tendency to binge, with anything that provides a brief escape, be it alcohol, drugs, video games, TV series', chocolate. Of course, its never been too bad, severe or long lasting for me, so it hasn't been too much of a problem and I wouldn't claim it comes close to what an alcoholic or heroin addict goes through, but I can at least see how someone might slip into such things, as a distraction from reality. And its usually coupled with a feeling of isolation and loneliness, feeling like you're alone with problems you don't know how to solve. So you hide from them instead. That's the impression I got after thinking about my past situations at least.

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