You call it a habit, they call it an addiction. There seems to be a fine line that separates the two. Knowing the difference between habits, compulsions, and addictions can help you in making much-needed changes in your life.

Here are 4 strange addictions that you often mistake for habits:

Checking your Phone

Cell phone addiction is getting worse.

So many people are addicted to technology. It is common to see a family of four sitting at a table in a restaurant and all four of them looking at their own technological device. Technology is slowly taking away the “social” out of “social events”. Facebook has taken technology addiction to a whole new level. Technology addictions have become so prominent that researchers have created a Facebook addiction scale.

It is time we, as a society, start learning how to limit our time with technology and especially our time on websites such as Facebook. It is like one big webpage full of gossip, which happens to be another addiction a person can have.

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Seeking attention

Some researchers call attention seeking addiction narcissism or attention validation addiction. There are different types of attention seekers: the sufferer, the saviour, the rescuer, organizer, manipulator, mind-poisoner, drama queen, busy bee, false confessor, abused, online victim, victim,

All of these kinds of attention seekers are a real drag to be around. But it is like they can’t help themselves. They can’t stop making themselves the center of attention no matter how many times they been talked to or coached.

On some level, their behavior gives them a sense of pleasure and they have gotten a response from others that made them feel good. I know, it sounds weird; a negative behavior gives them a positive feeling.

But that’s very similar to using drugs or alcohol, right? So they continue to seek attention in negative ways, and they don’t understand why they can’t keep friends for a long period of time.

Watching TV and playing video games

Television and video games seem harmless. In fact, most people see television and gaming systems as relaxing things to do at the end of a long day.

But, there is a downside to watching too much television and playing video games for a long period of time, you can even become addicted to it. This happens because you create a habit that revolves around television and video games and those habits can turn into addictions.

If so, you may want to make a few changes in your daily routine so that you can break addictive patterns.

Gossiping

There are many reasons we gossip. In a selfish way, gossip makes us feel better about ourselves, and at least, for a moment, it tells us we’re not the only ones on this planet with problems. It becomes an escape from our own reality. However, there is a dark side to gossiping.

Gossiping can become addictive for similar reasons we become addicted to other things. Gossip is associated with entertainment and pleasure, according to some research. This is not good since most gossip is negative.