- Compulsive spending. Also called oniomania, compulsive buying disorder, and shopping addiction, compulsive spending occurs when people lose control over their shopping habits, spending obsessively despite the damage this does to their bank accounts. Their shopping has little to do with needing things; instead, it is done for the neurochemical rush that temporarily helps the spender escape the vagaries of life. (This is the same escapist rush that drives alcoholism, drug addiction, sex addiction, and the other behavioral addictions on this list.) And the Internet’s ever-expanding shopping wonderland aids and abets compulsive spenders, allowing them to conduct their activities in secret (rather than at the local mall, where friends and family might see them and put a stop to their behavior).
- Video gaming addiction. Typically, video game addicts play for at least two or three hours daily; often they play four or five times that amount. They lose sleep, they neglect personal hygiene, their eating habits can be highly destructive (either they eat nothing but over-processed junk food or they don’t eat at all), and they lose interest in other activities (friends, family, school, work, exercise, hobbies, etc.) As with other addictions, video gaming addiction is not about enjoyment, it’s about escape. And it’s not just kids who get hooked on video games. Military veterans, especially those who’ve seen consistent action and are used to the terror of war, are also at high risk — especially if they’re playing interactive war-oriented games.
- Compulsive gambling. Also known as gambling addiction and gambling disorder, compulsive gambling occurs when people gamble despite negative consequences and an earnest desire to quit. Typically these individuals prefer fast-paced games where rounds occur quickly, with an instant opportunity to play again. Online gambling sites offer these games in abundance, feeding the addiction. Similar to the other addictions on this list, gambling addiction is not about winning money, it’s about the escapist neurochemical rush brought on by wagering. Many gambling addicts run up tens of thousands of dollars in debt (or more), and still they keep playing. Many lose their homes, their jobs and/or their families thanks to this addiction.
- Social media obsession. A relative newcomer to the addiction scene, social media obsession is the fanatical quest to have the most friends/followers on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and the like, and to have one’s posts responded to in positive ways by the most people possible. Unlike the other addictions on this list, social media obsession is an entirely digital phenomenon. It did not exist prior the advent of Facebook in 2004. Nevertheless, social media addicts seek to escape from real life (via the obsessive use of social media) just as other addicts seek to escape from real life. Often, the moods of a social media addict depend on whether he or she has gained or lost any online friends that day, and how his or her most recent posts have been responded to (or ignored).
