Just as a retrospective, in 2003…
- We added ‘cell phones’ to the list of Soft Addictions. Not everyone had them and pagers were still in use for some people over cell phones.
- Facebook didn’t even exist, neither did Twitter or Flickr
- Many people still didn’t shop online
- “Soft Addiction” the term itself that was coined by Dr. Wright was not commonly quoted in media and online as it is today
- Many people still felt like soft addictions were problems that other people had not themselves
- “Crackberry” addict was an unknown term
We’ve come a long way since then in the sense that there is a general recognition that we all have soft addictions—the more compelling question now is which ones you have. And yet we’re still facing the same challenges with new opportunities for indulging our soft addictions coming to the surface almost daily. It’s easier than ever to go lost in our email, our computer, our cell phone, than ever before.
There is one key thing that isn’t common knowledge yet, that hopefully will be by the time we do our next retrospective. Hopefully by the next time we look back, more people will understand that breaking through these bad habits is not really about giving anything up. It’s about adding things to our lives—about creating amazing, fun, exciting, adventurous lives that are so fulfilling and meaningful that our bad habits aren’t as enticing. (Judith’s Math of MORE concept) It will be fun to look back when, rather than feeling shame about their bad habits, people are exciting to see what information they can discover about their deeper needs so they can meet them directly. An overly optimistic vision? Hopefully – an impending reality instead.
