beyondtheveil's tags:
We use the word addiction quite often. Everything from drugs and alcohol to chocolate and blogsites (sound familiar?).

Addiction and craving stem from a piece of brain wet- ware called the mesolimbic system. Scientists call it the reinforcement center of the brain. It works like a "high five"- when you do something rewarding it says "nice job". And it does this by releasing dopamine. The more that's released, the better we feel.

Craving and addiction are two different things. Craving turns to addiction when your motivation for an activity changes from receiving a reward to providing a feeling of withdrawal. It is a switch from positive reinforcement to negative reinforcement.

The New Scientist has come up with several new addictions:

Blogstreaking- persistently searching info online.
Egosurfing- googling your own name repeatedly.
Googlestalking- snooping on friends and associates.
Photolurking- flipping through strangers online photos.
Wikipediholism- excessive use and/or editing.
CrackBerry- inability to stop checking BlackBerry, even at funerals.

Venturra College offers these addictions:

Peanut butter
Ferrets
Bananas
Styrofoam
Pencils
Internet surfing (again)

Here are some more strange addictions reported by people:

Email refresh button. One person admitted to having to hit it at least fifty times a day.
One person started putting on music at age seven and began running between two walls and
    has been unable to stop at age twenty.
Studying patterns on ceilings.
Licking Lego parts.
Cheese.
Sonic ice.
Using q-tips for everything.
Email checks at least every five minutes.
Oscar Mayer Bologna and Little Debbie cake rolls.
Chewing ice, ten pounds per day.
Red socks.
Talcum powder.

So the fun begins. Do you have strange addictions?

If you don't call it addiction, how about compulsive behavior toward something?

I'll tell you something of a strange behavior I have. The arrow icon you use for clicking on items (whatever its called) has to be in a special place for me. For instance, when my home page is appearing, I place it centered in the upper left hand corner. It can't be just left anywhere. When writing a post, it can't be left in the post. No matter what I'm doing on the net, I have to find a place for it. Now that's weird.

I have other weirdness, but what about you?

Do you have weird addictions or compulsions?


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Comments

  • silverwhisper said on Jan 23, 2008....
    is it just me or doesn't blogstreaking sound like it should be about compulsively writing intensely, disturbingly intimate blog entries for the express purpose of shocking readers?

    i gotta say, those are all new on me.

    ed
  • GracefullyGrowing said on Jan 23, 2008....
    When I eat popcorn with butter on it, I eat it with a spoon.  I can't stand to have my hands all greasy.
     
    ~Grace~
    (who is watching for Twylarants to admit again she eats ice cream with a fork, and make me feel better. LOL)
  • quietone said on Jan 23, 2008....
    oh a bit OCD are we beyond?  I would have never thought that of ya!  oh yes, I love studying patterns on ceilings and counting the tiles!  LOL  never mind being addicted to this place!  :P
  • skald said on Jan 23, 2008....
     I read with the arrow. I did like this post and the words you came up with. Most interesting. I love cheese. I don't think I am addicted or maybe I have to have a slice on my toast every morning. lol 
  • hinana said on Jan 23, 2008....
    music. I have to have music with everything i do. techinically, i can work without it, but i have to force myself to. *is listening to music right now*
  • the_infernal_optimist said on Jan 23, 2008....
    I don't know if any of my quirky little habits are addictions. I do check my email about five times a day, more if I'm actively carrying on a conversation. And I am overly fond of the scroll button on my mouse, says DH.

    I am off-again, on-again addicted to Milk Duds (not right now, thank you diet!) and hopelessly so to Mountain Dew. ;-)

    Blogstreaking sounds like it should consist of posting videos of random people running by naked in the comments of random blogs. And licking Legos? Ewwwww!

    ~Infernal
  • uniquely-ironic said on Jan 23, 2008....
    I don't know if it's an addiction, but I cannot leave crumbs sitting on a table.  I have the overwhelming urge to sweep them to the floor or onto my hand and back to the plate.  I recently found out that my aunt has the same compulsion.
  • polarheart said on Jan 23, 2008....
    U-I, is that not a syndrome all women have?  I certainly do, I even do it in the restaurant and stack the empty dishes so as to make life easy for the waiteress/waiter!
  • botoni said on Jan 23, 2008....
    I have more than I care to admit but..........flatware must be in the 'proper' position for any table setting, as must the water glass etc. I m irritated by crooked collars and picture hanging crooked or out of balance. Counting tiles on floor or ceiling, spindles in stairways, almost any items that come in multiples. Yikes....I m truly OCD!
  • wakingharmony said on Jan 23, 2008....
    Omy I do like to eat ice cream with a fork, have to shake the milk carton so the milk is bubbly, I also use the arrow to read...gosh so many
  • TrunkMonkey said on Jan 23, 2008....
    OMG! laughed so hard. i think i know, work with all of those addicts! and i agree with ed about the def of blogstreaking.
    i do have a compulsion though. i wash my left pinkie over and over when i go o the bathroom. don't tell my theropist. ;)
  • rightwingwizard said on Jan 23, 2008....

    As much a I might like to deny it, I have a few excentricies myself.

    I must eat my ice cream with a fork.  Not just any fork mind you, it must be my ice cream eating fork.   It is  not part of any flatware set I have ever owned and have no idea from whence it came.  If it is dirty, I must wash it before eating any ice cream.   If I take the ice cream out of the freezer and dish it up, and for some reason can't find the fork, the ice cream goes back into the freezer until such time as I have located the damn thing.

    I simply cannot function at anyone elses computer, no matter how strong the urge or great the need to get on-line or do anything else on a computer, I have to wait until I get home to do so.  I have been known to leave a gathering or meeting early for that reason.

    I cannot stand a picture hanging askew.  When at someone elses home, rather than adjust the picture, I will make some excuse to make a hasty exit.  I remember one occation when I recieved a phone call from a friend asking me to come back, as he had gone through the house and strightened all the pictures.

    These are just a few of my many peculiarities.

    rww

  • BlueHotRage said on Jan 23, 2008....
    1. Blogstreaking... I guess so, since I tend to look up a lot of stuff that I don't know about.
    2. Egosurfing... Nope, too busy.
    3. Googlestalking... Nope, I hate the idea of doing that and finding out stuff about my friends that I didn't want to know.
    4. Photolurking... Not unless it's an online art gallery or something. 
    5. Wikipediholism... Use?  Yeah.  Editing?  Nope. 
    6. CrackBerry...  Nope.  Can't afford a BlackBerry, and I don't really want one anyway. 
    7. Peanut butter... Only on sandwiches.
    8. Ferrets... Cute, but no.
    9. Bananas... Eew, no.
    10. Styrofoam... Nope.
    11. Pencils... Only to scribble notes with.
    12. Internet surfing (again)... Yeah.
    13. Email refresh button...  I hate having to refresh anything online, I don't see why I'd ever do it for fun.
    14. Putting on music and running between two walls... Nope.
    15. Studying patterns on ceilings... Maybe for about three hours, but then I'd get bored.
    16. Licking Lego parts... Eew, no.
    17. Cheese... Only Wensleydale or sharp cheddar.  With crackers or in quiche.
    18. Sonic ice... I don't even know what that is.
    19. Using q-tips for everything... Nope.
    20. Email checks at least every five minutes... I haven't had time to check my mail for the past two weeks, so I'm not about to attempt checking every 5 minutes. 
    21. Oscar Mayer Bologna and Little Debbie cake rolls... Um, other than once every three months, no.
    22. Chewing ice, ten pounds per day... Jeebus, no!
    23. Red socks... No--they stain my laundry.
    24. Talcum powder... Um, no.
     
    Seven out of twenty-four.  Not bad.
  • secretlife said on Jan 23, 2008....

    i'm a cronic straightener- i'm always picking up, straightening up...

    i just like things in order and i can't stand clutter. 

    i always make my bed in the morning as soon as i get out of it. 

  • queenparanoia said on Jan 23, 2008....
    i cannot sleep if a cabinet is open... i have to close it... that's my weird addiction...
  • cindylu said on Jan 23, 2008....
    chewing gum.
  • Mamie said on Jan 24, 2008....
    I cannot sit and enjoy an evening of tv, or reading if lights are on in my house with no one in the room, like queenie, if a cabinet is open and I see it, I will get up to close it...I think I will give my dad credit for this..."turn off the lights on your way out of the room!"...I often walk by my husbands closet and he has left the light on...drvies me nuts!
  • nytquill17 said on Jan 24, 2008....
    I have so many little "weirdities"!  I guess it helps that I spent a large segment of my life in less-than-optimal mental health ;)

    Organizing and categorizing the objects in my home (on my computer, too), and then re-working that organization - everything has a place and a reason why it goes there!  Lining things up so they're even or balanced or symmetrical - CDs in a stack, silverware around my plate, objects in a drawing.

    But probably my biggest compulsions are (1) biting my nails (it's so pervasive that when I see people with long nails I start wanting to bite my own, and I wonder how that person can stand to let their nails grow so long without chewing on them!)

    And (2) pulling my clothes tight.  I am always twisting my sleeves and pants legs, pulling up my socks, stretching my shirt tight across my back...it's the feeling of the fabric wrapped against my skin that I like.  Even when I was little - my "lovey" was a blanket, and to comfort myself I would take a corner of it and wrap it tight around my finger.
  • evil_twin said on Jan 24, 2008....
    I can't sleep in a bed if the sheet isn't tucked tightly under the mattress. Sometimes if we sleep crazy, the sheet gets pulled out, and I've actually gotten up in the middle of the night to remake the bed, or else I can't sleep. Natalie thinks I'm out of my mind. Usually I can tuck everything back in without bothering her, but once I actually made her get up because the fitted sheet was bunched up and undone, and I had to straighten that too.

    -evil_twin LA
  • uniquely-ironic said on Jan 24, 2008....
    ET - You made her get up to remake the bed?!!  You're lucky you didn't end up on the couch.
     
    I thought of another one last night after I went home.  I will stop whatever I'm doing at work to straighten up my desk.  I cannot leave any paper less than perfectly square to the lines of the desk.  Even my keyboard must line up with the desk.  One of my coworkers will walk by and push the papers, memos tacked to my walls crooked just because she knows how compulsive I am about straightening them.
  • beyondtheveil said on Jan 24, 2008....
    I LOVED these comments. I haven't had this much fun reading comments on any of my blogs. I knew we all had oddities.

    A couple more of mine.

    I can't use the pepper before the salt. If someone is using the salt and the pepper is in front of me, I have to wait until they are finished.

    When walking, I need to be on the right side with people passing me on the left. Its the same while walking with someone- they need to be on my left.

    I want to thank all of you for commenting. I haven't had this much fun in a long time.
  • MissMimi said on Jan 24, 2008....

    I do that with the cursor too, beyond.  I admit to a fondness for crunching ice, and my particular favorite is ice from Skyline Chili.  But the hospital's ice...  OMG, I was in heaven.  That is some fine ice...  LOL

    I can't sleep in a totally dark, totally quiet room.

  • SikariChepiNashota said on Jan 29, 2008....
    i never thought of myself being addicted to cheese. but lately i found out how much i like eating cheese...medically, when someone craves for a certain kind of food--it means your body needs it. like if you like consuming cheese, since it is high in protein, and calcium, your body probably needs those minerals. it makes sense to me, since i don't drink milk--being lactose intolerant--i probably lack calcuim...and since i am not too fond of meat, too..=) well, that's what i know about food cravings...

    speaking of OCD...count me in...when i do things...details--details are so important....every little bit of it....i want it perfect.
  • moonriver said on Jan 29, 2008....
    beyond -- hope your blog's still good for a couple of additional entries... :-) here's mine. i'm not sure if these are strange enough, but i'm addicted to:

    * guavas
    * waking up at dawn and doing early-morning exercises
    * doodling
    * climbing mountains
    * piano love
    * pranksterism
    * bananas (although it comes and goes with the seasons, like guava)
    * old toothbrushes (LOL)
    * radio news

    i may have still a few more insufficiently undocumented addictions. i'm working closely with my doctor to develop a manageable daily regimen hahaha.

  • beyondtheveil said on Jan 30, 2008....
    moon- Out of all those blogs, the only one I may not have read is 'piano love', but when I click on it I get the mountains blog. How about afixin' this so I can see if I've read it? 
  • moonriver said on Jan 30, 2008....
    so sorry about that, beyond. here's the corrected link for piano love . (i'm at work, not supposed to be here, so i'll answer only this one for now... :-)

  • beyondtheveil said on Jan 30, 2008....
    Thanks for doing that. I missed that one somehow and enjoyed reading it as I do all of your posts. 

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