So you can't be addicted to running? Or posting on Hacker News?
You have a fair point, the dictionary definition of addiction includes words like 'damaging' and 'pathological'. But the mechanism of addiction is very similar whether the ends are beneficial or not. And a lot of the people use the word to apply to things that are not terribly negative.
Oh, I'll agree with you on that. Sometimes people even use 'addiction' in a positive sense, to describe their dedication to something. But in the context of this debate I want to draw a clearer distinction.
You have a fair point, the dictionary definition of addiction includes words like 'damaging' and 'pathological'. But the mechanism of addiction is very similar whether the ends are beneficial or not. And a lot of the people use the word to apply to things that are not terribly negative.