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From Will Baude (via Dan Drezner):

I remember being struck that if you took the various signs of "alcoholism" and replaced books and reading as appropriate, nearly all of them applied to me:

Are books a necessary part of your daily routine? Check. Do you become grumpy and irritable if your books are taken away from you? Check. If you begin reading, just a little bit, do you find it hard to stop? Check. Do you find yourself growing distant from friends who disapprove of your book habit? Big check. Do you find yourself needing more and more books to get the same "fix"? Check. When you meet a new person or enter a new room, do you instantly size up his bookshelf? Check. Does your book habit sometimes get in the way of leading a "normal" life? Check. (Think of the countless social engagements I have declined because I preferred to finish an addictive read.) Do you buy books to make yourself feel better when sad or lonely? Check. (Hence: some fifty books purchased in two months in England last fall; less than a dozen this summer).

Now, he isn't arguing that alcoholism and being fond of reading are equivalent:

The moral of the story is-- what exactly? Perhaps that "addiction," especially addiction to things other than ingested chemicals, is a badly-formed concept (consider gambling addiction, internet addiction, book addiction, religion addiction, sex addiction, exercise addiction, and begin to try to draw lines). Of course, [the] joke about water addiction reminds us that even ingested-chemical-addiction may not be a well-formed concept. And also that our ideas on these things are incredibly vulnerable to a status quo bias.

One of Will's commenters claims that if you aren't ashamed of it, it ain't addiction. Seems to me I've known more than a few proud lushes in my life, however, so I'm not sure I buy that.

But anyway: What are YOUR addictions? Reading? Reality TV? Breeding rabbits? God forbid, blogging? Can you quit any time you want?

Oh, I've heard that before ...