[oramit]

While the author compares his problem to Alcohol addiction I was struck by the sentence: "It's gotten to the point where I don't really enjoy the video as much as the numb hypnotic state from consuming that much content."

This to me matches up most with gambling addiction. There is a great book on the subject that I recommend to the Author called "Addiction by Design" by Natasha Schull. The main thrust of her argument is that machine gambling addicts don't care about winning at all but have found gambling machines (slots, video poker mostly) as a reliable way to activate that "flow" state where the rest of the world falls away. It's mostly a study of the problem, very sobering, and there are some good resources at the end for getting help.

I think we're all addicted to this "flow" state. When it happens during programming it's the best feeling ever. Hours go by, no technical hurdle is too big, I can make more progress in 4 hours than 4 days of regular work, and everything just makes sense. I come out of it always wishing I could activate that feeling on command, but it never works reliably for productive things. Only vices, unfortunately.

[bouncycastle]

I can activate the 'flow" state, starting with doing small tasks in the comments like changing / editing comments, commit them to git, and then see if your next commit can have more changes than the last one, perhaps find and fix a small bug. In a sense, a git commit is like hitting a winner, releasing the dopamine required to get you in "flow".

[escapedmoose]

+1 to this. The habit/ritual of pulling/pushing in git has become a reliable way to activate flow states for me :)

[whiplash451]

+2, actually

[csomar]

I had the exact same reaction the first time I entered a casino. I was expecting the movie’s vibe: people crazy about the bets they are making. What I found is semi-conscious humans turning wheels and slots. Felt they were just hanging in a cool and colorful place.

The casino knows this too. It was not a pushy place to make sales. It was also a very safe and cool place to hang in.

[mancerayder]

>This to me matches up most with gambling addiction. There is a great book on the subject that I recommend to the Author called "Addiction by Design" by Natasha Schull. The main thrust of her argument is that machine gambling addicts don't care about winning at all but have found gambling machines (slots, video poker mostly) as a reliable way to activate that "flow" state where the rest of the world falls away.

Maybe to escape anxiety?

[wincy]

Interesting, I get this flow state where the world falls away when I have a good programming task for work and I can accomplish a Herculean amount of work in a day. At the end of the day it feels like it was in a blink of an eye and I feel super good about myself.

I got into a great flow state earlier this week the day after seeing my relative in hospice care. I didn’t have to think about the pain of that for a day and it was pretty great.

[oramit]

Anxiety is certainly part of it but I think it's simpler than that. We can't be "on" all the time. We need hobbies, distractions, and escape just as much as we need productive work. As the author notes though, this escape can become all consuming and ultimately hurt the person.