I once wrote that music is a drug, it’s not a physical substance, but it alters the body and mind. It makes us feel we are somewhere we aren’t, feel as we are someone we aren’t.
The list was the following
1. Over stimulus (namely screens)
2. Music (fantasy, disconnection)
3. Superiority (pride/arrogance)
4. Alcohol (disconnection, drunkenness)
5. Knowledge (curiosity)
6. Happiness (stagnation)
Is happiness a drug? What separates an addiction from a fundamental need?
Like is the “need” for human companionship a drug, to not be solitary all the time? We aren’t “addicted to food”. Though on the flip side actual drugs (illicit substances) are things which lead to addiction, so where is the line?
Perhaps it’s some sort of rational utility measurement, like what actually helps you and what doesn’t, like a net benefit. Though how even to measure that? If using a monetary lens then food is pretty bad, especially nutritious food.
Though here then is an alternative hypothesis: things that are “drugs” push us towards subjective reality (the world we make up in our heads) and non “drugs” push us (or don’t push us away) from objective reality (what’s actually going on).
The reality is that it is super nuanced. There’s almost always no big idea to explain what’s going on, and if it somehow is straightforward it’s a broad answer without context. With all the complicated things being so simple, and all the simple things complicated. Where the price of moving forward is inordinately high (or meaningless if given as a default) and paying doesn’t guarantee success but not paying guarantees failure.
The reality that is so unkind, but that if tamed, loved as it really is, will grow to appreciate.