all addictions — regardless of the narcotics — are manifestations of behavioral excess. As such, they all steal our time and money and freedom — none more ruthlessly or efficiently than our default meta-addiction to all things media and all things digital.
Discussion
I'm with Matt Walsh on this one - addiction should be understood as physical dependency, not merely some destructive habit
But could a destructive habit be linked to a physical dependency on the dopamine one gets from that behavior?
I'm doubtful that physical dependency on an internally-produced chemical is a meaningful construct.
Even so, many things provide dopamine, not just the specific "addictive" behavior. Habituation would suggest that the individual should get more dopamine from a non-habitual source than from their habitual source. So physical dependency should promote variety of behavior rather than behavioral "addiction".