[freedomben]

Just my opinion of course, but (like drugs and alcohol) putting a reasonable and generic metric on it is really hard, so I would instead ask generic questions that I would ask about other things like:

1. Do you find yourself craving it?

2. Do you continually feel the need to increase your intake? (i.e. developing a tolerance)

3. Would you be embarrassed if a like-minded friend knew about your habit?

4. If you were suddenly cut off from it for a few days, how would it make you feel?

[smsm42]

3 is really a societal measure - many addictions, like tobacco addiction and to some measure alcohol addiction, or caffeine addiction, are well accepted by the society and usually carry little shame to the addict.