All posts tagged: Addicted

I was addicted to my phone – but one screen time hack actually made a difference | Smartphones

I was addicted to my phone – but one screen time hack actually made a difference | Smartphones

Published by Sam Flores

I recently learned through Apple’s Screen Time app that I was spending about eight hours a week on my phone browsing Reddit and Instagram. That’s 17.3 days a year spent consuming entertaining but ultimately pointless fluff. So my piece looking for solutions for phone addicts was highly personal. The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more. The warning signs are if your phone is the first thing you look at in the morning and the last thing you look at in bed, says Prof Marcantonio Spada, emeritus professor of addictive behaviours and mental health at London South Bank University and chief clinical officer at Onebright, who I spoke to for my article. That’s a tick for me and, I suspect, a lot of readers. Too many of us have “outsourced our brain to California”, Spada says, but that’s not completely our fault: “There are behavioural scientists and neuroscientists who are working daily to ensure that it’s outsourced. I know some of them really well.” …

A Member of Sackler Family Says She Got Addicted to Opioids

A Member of Sackler Family Says She Got Addicted to Opioids

Published by José Betancourt

Sign up to see the future, today Can’t-miss innovations from the bleeding edge of science and tech The opioid crisis seems to be coming full circle. As the Sackler family negotiated to pay a $6.5 billion settlement over their role in Purdue Pharma’s production of addictive opioids, Joss Sackler — wife of former Purdue board member David Sackler — admitted she had herself become addicted to the habit-forming drugs. That highly ironic piece of news was reported by Bloomberg. According to the outlet, Sackler pleaded guilty to obstructing a federal grand jury investigation after being caught on the receiving end of an illegal shipment of prescription drugs in 2024. At the time, Sackler deleted a handful of WhatsApp messages incriminating her as the recipient, leading to a single felony count. “I am so truly sorry that when I was suffering from my addiction I made these poor choices and I am grateful for the medical care I have been able to get in my recovery,” Sackler said in a court statement on Wednesday, referring to …

I didn’t think I could get addicted to weed. I was wrong – and I’m not alone | Well actually

I didn’t think I could get addicted to weed. I was wrong – and I’m not alone | Well actually

Published by Sam Flores

Amy knew it wasn’t great. But there she was, at the bottom of a dumpster, desperately searching for the THC vape cartridge she’d thrown away just hours earlier. Amy, 18, had previously tossed that same cartridge, known colloquially as a cart, into a public trash can. Passersby stared as she later rooted around to recover it. So she lifted the entire garbage bag and brought it back to her apartment, where she dug through a bunch of sloppy, stinking detritus before finding it and taking a grateful toke. Later that same week, she threw it into the dumpster – surely that would prevent her from going back. But she did. “I’ve tried everything to stop,” said Amy (not her real name – all interviewees requested anonymity for this story). She’s been to rehab and discussed her cannabis use in therapy for years. She’s given carts away, made non-smoking friends, changed schools – but nothing has helped her quit. She said she’s trying every day. “Especially after the dumpster situation,” she added. “That seriously scared me.” …

My mother is addicted to gaming and emotionally unavailable. What should I do? | Family

My mother is addicted to gaming and emotionally unavailable. What should I do? | Family

Published by Sam Flores

My mother is in her 70s and addicted to playing video games such as Tetris, many different versions of solitaire and slot machine gambling games. In the 1990s my parents bought a desktop computer and my mum started to play mostly card games on it for hours. As technology has progressed, she moved to a laptop and now a smartphone. When my sisters and I were younger, we used to joke about her gaming, but we’ve come to realise it has affected our relationships as she has never been emotionally available. When I’m with Mum now, she always has her phone in her hand and will be playing a game even when I’m talking to her. I never feel I have her full attention. She is like this with other family members too and it’s become a bit of a family joke. Since my dad died nearly four years ago, I feel the addiction has become worse. Mum spends hours sitting at home playing games, sometimes on several devices at once. When I’ve raised my …

I’m addicted to checking my phone. Could a blocking device stop me? | Mobile phones

I’m addicted to checking my phone. Could a blocking device stop me? | Mobile phones

Published by Sam Flores

Wake up, 100 messages from group chat overnight about something – what? another assassination attempt; a village destroyed in Lebanon; the football result in England; the weather in Iran being manipulated; the pesticides causing lung and bowel cancer, so everyone who eats salads is now at risk of cancer; meditate for 20 minutes, then fire up x.com, a place I thought I’d never want to revisit, with its carnival barkers and supplement salesman, and have you seen the Lego thing calling Trump a paedo?, you gotta see the Lego thing, and this is before my first coffee, yet x.com is the coffee and the tea, whatever Elon has done to the For You algorithm is evil genius, it’s like the global collective id, nasty and funny and addictive and compelling – like gawking at a car crash, like soaking in a hot bubble bath of anger, and memes, and geopolitical dramas, and Trump, Trump, Trump – soaking in Trump, and then, For Me (just as Elon promised). So begins the circuit around my phone, that …

I’m addicted to running marathons — they’ve changed my life

I’m addicted to running marathons — they’ve changed my life

Published by Sam Flores

I had just turned 30, started a new job and the weight was beginning to pile on. The scales were approaching the 18-stone mark and I was veering dangerously close to couch potato territory. My friends were beginning to couple up, get married and have babies, yet I was coasting. I decided I needed a holiday and, crucially, to start looking after myself. Then, an epiphany! Why not kill two birds with one stone? I went in hard and began searching for marathons in European cities I’d never visited. Was I an experienced marathon runner? Absolutely not, but with hope, determination and plenty of ignorance, I thought, “Why not?” Source link

Millions of children living with drink addicted parents | UK | News

Millions of children living with drink addicted parents | UK | News

Published by Sam Flores

Soaring calls for help from children (Image: Getty) Calls from desperate children living with alcoholic parents have soared by 60 per cent since 2019, new figures reveal. The National Association for Children of Alcoholics (Nacoa) says its helpline has seen a dramatic rise in young people reaching out for support. In 2025 alone, the charity received 37,000 contacts from people affected by a parent’s drinking, with high levels of relationship breakdown and parental death reported as presenting problems. Campaigners warn that an estimated 2.6 million children in the UK are now living with a parent who drinks too much – many in silence and shame. The alarming increase comes as separate new data from the NSPCC shows the scale of harm inside family homes. The NSPCC Helpline was contacted 9,192 times in the year to March 2025 by people worried about a parent or carer misusing alcohol or drugs – an average of 25 contacts every single day. In England alone, 73,250 children who were subject to a Child in Need assessment between April 2024 …

The signs you might be addicted to sports betting – and what to do about it

The signs you might be addicted to sports betting – and what to do about it

Published by Daniella Wilson

Get the Well Enough newsletter with Harry Bullmore for tips on living a healthier, happier and longer life Get the Well Enough email with Harry Bullmore Get the Well Enough email with Harry Bullmore New research suggests a significant link between exposure to gambling advertisements on television during major football tournaments and an increased likelihood of placing bets. The study focused on the betting behaviour of men aged 18 to 45 in England throughout the 2022 Fifa World Cup in Qatar, examining how TV ad exposure influenced their wagering habits. The findings revealed that the frequency of football betting was between 16 per cent and 24 per cent higher during matches broadcast on channels that screened gambling ads, compared with games shown on channels without such promotions. Furthermore, participants were found to be between 22 per cent and 33 per cent more likely to place a bet during matches that included televised gambling advertisements. open image in gallery There are some key signs that might indicate that casual bets on sports games has spiralled into …

I Was Addicted to Hair Transplant Consultations

I Was Addicted to Hair Transplant Consultations

Published by Jenni Sidey

I would never have confessed to another man what I was going through. But by sheer virtue of being in the same room together, we’d disclosed something to each other; silent brothers in the same lonely war. Among them, I felt normal and lucid. It was the closest thing I had to a support group. Sitting on a heinous mustard-yellow sofa beneath a framed Lichtenstein knockoff, tapping my foot in time with the middle-aged man with a horseshoe hairline reading a magazine, I felt held. The staff at hair transplant clinics is usually great too. Though almost always helmed by a man, these offices often employ beautiful women as receptionists and assistants. My first consultation in Dallas introduced me to a Russian woman in a white lab coat who sat me down in a chair, grabbed a fat marker, and drew a line that cleaved my forehead roughly in half. Such hairlines do naturally occur, though most typically in chimpanzees. She held up a mirror. “Is this what you want?” she asked. “No?” I guessed. …

Signs your child is addicted to social media – as Lords back ban

Signs your child is addicted to social media – as Lords back ban

Published by Daniella Wilson

Sign up to our free Living Well email for advice on living a happier, healthier and longer life Live your life healthier and happier with our free weekly Living Well newsletter Live your life healthier and happier with our free weekly Living Well newsletter Social media use has become one of the most challenging battles for parents with young children and teens, but this might begin to change as the House of Lords have backed a social media ban for under-16s. Peers supported the cross-party move by 261 votes to 150, majority 111, which means the Australian-style ban will have to be considered by MPs in the Commons. Technology Secretary Liz Kendall announced a three-month consultation this week, which will consider the advantages and disadvantages of a ban, as well as possible overnight curfews and actions to prevent “doom-scrolling”, before reporting back in the summer. In the meantime, in this increasingly digital world it can be hard for parents to navigate what is considered “normal” social media usage and what might borderline into an addiction. …