Yet human life can be devastated or horribly blighted by ill-chosen addictions. A simple example would be that of an adolescent drawn into an apparently warm and benevolent religious group, which only gradually comes forth in its true colors as a destructive cult of collective suicide. Another example might be a young person in the 1930s, becoming a Communist or a National Socialist. Addictions are indispensable. Yet addictions can also have appalling consequences.
Nothing is more vital for a young person than to select the right addictions.
Addictions we approve of are called 'virtues'. Addictions we disapprove of are called 'vices'. In recent years, the word 'addiction' has come to be used with quite a different meaning. It is now taken to refer to any activity which individuals engage in, deliberately and consciously, and are physically unable to stop themselves pursuing. In this newfangled sense of 'addiction', I maintain that 'addiction' is a myth.