Deprivation Addiction

            It is pretty obvious to me what caused the productivity issue I have been dealing with the last week: addiction to television. If you lived with me, you’d say “that’s impossible! You don’t even have a TV.” That’s true. In fact, it was because I was so bored without a TV that I finally decided to go online and torrent shows. Big mistake.

            Show producers are very particular about ending each episode on a cliffhanger so that you are torn to pieces waiting to see what happens. Usually that’s fine. If, like me, you only care about one or two shows, there’s six days between episode premiers. That’s long enough to prevent an addiction. When it comes to torrents, however, how much you view it at your discretion. Since it’s so easy to find out what becomes of the world you have immersed yourself in, you just keep clicking the play button to fuel your addiction.

Once my school starts, my addiction will end. I just won’t have time to squander on watching action TV shows. July 29^th will mean the end of my deprivation addiction.

Deprivation addiction. That’s the term I’ve developed for when people are deprived of something for long periods of time, and then abuse use of it during the short periods when that can. I myself have a lot of experience with it.

When I was younger, we didn’t subscribe to the kid’s channels like Disney and CN. When we used to go on trips, instead of exploring the new location, my sister and I would spend hours watching the very shows my parents wanted us to avoid at home.

It doesn’t only have to do with TV either. Unlike many of my friend’s families, we didn’t keep a constant stash of junk food, most notably, Doritos. My friends would have a constant supply of the stuff, and finish a packet every week or so. I, on the other hand, obtained a packet every three months. My family was lucky if I hadn’t finished it within two days.   

The funny thing is, once I finally got a constant supply of children’s TV channels and Doritos, I lost interest.  Now that I’m on break, with too much free time on my hands, I’ve fallen into the trap of television once again. But I still cringe whenever I see Doritos, though.