The Harmfulness of Addiction

This module really opened my eyes. Being a college student, activities such as smoking, doing drugs and drinking alcohol are so commonly heard of. The fact that young people treat these things as ‘activities’ is a problem it itself. However, even if someone is not participating, it just becomes so normal to hear about these things. To actually read about all of the affects and the damages they can do to your body is terrifying. Thinking of all the people I know who are harming their bodies by participating in these acts is so sad.

The video about smoking at the beginning of the Prezi was so intense. The music behind it really accented what it was saying. Those statistics are real. We as a country and as a planet are sucked in to these bad behaviors. It is hard because often the effects of smoking are not shown until after years of already becoming so addicted. When the signs are not immediate, people believe they are fine. Chronic bronchitis, emphysema and asthma are some diseases that can come from smoking. Although they make take some time to develop, they do not take pity when they start to destroy your body.

Something that really surprised me in the text was about parents. I always thought that parents letting their kids drink in high school would help them be safer in college because they had experience and wouldn’t be as interested in it. However, it only makes the chances of binge drinking and other harmful behaviors that much greater.

I was also surprised to learn about the behavioral addictions. Gambling, sexual and spending addictions I have definitely heard more about than the technology addiction. All of them were interesting to read about, however, because whenever I think of addiction I think of drugs and alcohol immediately. Technological addictions make a lot of sense for this generation of youth. People now want to be constantly connecting and feel good about people messaging them or giving them feedback on social media. This is building a self-esteem that I am not necessarily sure is a good thing. It definitely does not sound healthy.

I do feel as though I put in the needed time to complete this module. However, in the future I would like to try to get my responses in a little sooner. I think this way it would be less stressful because I would be ahead of the game.