The New Fixes
We live in a world of addiction. Junk food, painkillers, alcohol, and technology are all habits that consume our lives, but they can quickly become obsessions that move beyond our control. How do you know whether they become an unhealthy necessity?
In THE FIX by Damian Thompson, he writes about how modern society is producing a dizzying range of substances, ranging from slickly marketed iPads and computer games to illegally manufactured painkillers that are supplementing the traditional addictions such as alcohol and nicotine. Thompson, who has himself struggled with addiction, argues that human desire is in the process of being reshaped. Shunning the widely accepted model of addiction as a disease, he shows how manufacturers are actively encouraging our unhealthy appetites for iPhones, shopping, painkillers and gaming, to name just a few. The acceleration of scientific development is producing more and more substances, objects and experiences that we learn to like too much for our own good.
Below is a breakdown of society’s newest addictions.
Damian Thompson is Editor of Telegraph Blogs and a columnist for the Daily Telegraph. His book THE FIX: How addiction is taking over your world will be published in paperback by HarperCollins on April 23, 2013. He is also on Twitter as HolySmoke.