Addiction
Ever find yourself gaming til 3am? Spend more money on worthless items than your bills? Have you turned to alcohol to stop yourself thinking about reality? These are all forms of: Addiction
What is Addiction?
An Addiction is an unhealthy obsession where find yourself losing self-control of your regular life routines because you are focused on something you think is rewarding either physically, mentally or financially but is seriously harmful to your health and wellbeing.
What causes Addiction?
The biggest cause of Addiction in autistic people is finding specific things that we become obsessed with through our natural ability to Hyper-Focus. This is not necessarily a bad thing as many autistic have found great success by using this trait but when we find an Obsessive Interest that causes us to lose complete control of our usual life routines, this interest has become an addiction.
How do I manage Addiction?
How well you can manage Addiction first depends what kind of Addiction you have. There at least 3 types of Addictions (maybe more): Electronic Addictions, Money Addictions and Substance Abuse Addictions with each one being more severe than the last. The latter will certainly require professional help to manage but for now, you can start managing Addiction by using the different strategies below.
Electronic Addictions
What are “Electronic Addictions”?
Electronic Addictions are addictions that are accessed through electronic devices such as Video Games, the Internet and Social Media.
How do I manage “Electronic Addictions”?
In short, here are 3 different strategies for you to try: Limit Access Electronically, Limit Access Physically OR Find something else to do. These strategies are all explained in further detail under the tabs above.
How do I “Limit Access Electronically”?
To Limit Access Electronically involves using software of electronic devices such as apps, browser extensions and default settings to limit the use of your electronic devices. To help you do this, I have broken it down into steps below:
Set a Time Limit
When I once played an open world video game, I knew that I would get addicted to it, so I limited my time playing it to 2 hours a day by setting a timer on my phone.
Hide the Influence
I can spend hours just watching YouTube videos and this wastes time I could use productively. In order to stop this I used a Google Chrome extension called “Block the YouTube feed”. This prevented me from taking interest in random videos that pop on the homepage and recommended videos side bar putting me in control of what I watch.
Make the Screen Look Boring
I find that I spend so much time on my phone because of how attractive it is to look at and this had to change. One trick used by professionals in Silicon Valley is to make the screen black and white which can be done in the phone’s settings. Another thing I did was make the wallpaper background solid black.
Delete Software Associated with the Addiction
I originally watched YouTube videos through the YouTube app on my phone which was problematic as it made so easy to access and lose myself in YouTube so I decided to delete the app off my phone and my other devices for good measure.
Block your Access to it
I realised that I could still watch YouTube through the phone’s internet so I blocked it using the ScreenTime (I use an iPhone) in my phone settings in order to keep YouTube completely off my phone fully preventing any temptation to use it.
Find an Alternative
One of the negative triggers of autism is boredom, I learned this from an autism course I did. I released that I could be tempted to unblock YouTube to cure my boredom. In order to avoid this, I looked for an alternative to YouTube which I found in the form of Facebook Videos: these videos require you to actively search for what you want to watch and they will lead to random videos which you most likely will not want to watch hence it puts you in control of the content.
How do I “Limit Access Physically”?
To Limit Access Physically means to find ways to keep yourself away from your device by moving it somewhere else. To help you do this, I have broken it down into steps below:
Turn you Device off
I always used to turn my phone off before I went to bed so it wouldn’t go off in the middle of the night disturbing my sleep. I did this until I started using the next step below.
Don’t have your Device right next to you
Nowadays, I always keep my phone on my desk which is at the opposite side of the room from my bed (where I tend to use it most often at home). This also motivates me to get out of bed if I want to use it.
Put your Device in another room
I have even gone as far as leaving my phone in the living room rather than take it up into bedroom with me.
Focus each of your Devices on a certain use
I only use my iPad for my work so I removed everything that I don’t need in order to work such as streaming software like Netflix and only keep things such as Pages and Keynote (Apple’s versions of Word and PowerPoint).
Find Alternatives to the Devices you use
I used to use my phone as an alarm clock but this had the negative habit of me then using my phone after turning off the alarm. I used to combat this by using an alarm clock and now I use my smart speaker for the alarm. Another thing I like to do is read and rather than use ebooks at home, I prefer to read physical books.
Downgrade your Device
I remember the first mobile phone I ever got was a Trium Mars, what we today call a dumb phone but they were revolutionary at the time. It was limited in what it could do and because of that people such as myself were happier not using them. Dumb phones still exist today and are ideal for anyone who can’t find any other way to deal with their phone addiction.
How can I “Find something else to do”?
Finding something else to do is about looking for an activity that is a better use of your time, something that you can focus on instead of an electronic screen. To help you do this, I have made a list of ideas for you down below:
Find an App that gets you moving physically
I started playing Pokémon GO on my phone when it first came out and it was a phenomenon. The game had you walk around in real life to catch Pokémon and would encourage you to explore different areas, even new ones in order to find more Pokémon.
Reading
Before I go to bed, I always try to make time to read a book. This could be a comic book, a novel or even a non-fiction book. Sometimes I find certain books difficult to read and for that I use audiobooks. An audiobook is a recording of person reading the book to you, this makes it easier as all you have to do is listen.
Listening to Music
Music is a great motivator for our emotions. For me, I like to listen to music that is either fast pace or has lyrics that inspire me when I run on my treadmill or do chores around the house. When I work, I use slower paced music such as classical or ambience to calm me down. Aspie Heroes has lists of music to listen to for both situations in the Health & Wellbeing section of the site, you can find our Aspie Heroes Health & Wellbeing page by clicking EXPLORE at the top of the page (Between ABOUT and CONTACT).
Walking
Walking is one of the best forms of exercise you can do. I find a good walk helps me clear my head of any worries I have by looking at what’s around me in the present moment as I walk by it.
Meditation
Meditation has been a huge benefit for me, I use it as a way to calm myself down when I get anxious and I use it to bring myself back to attention when I lose focus or concentration. Meditation can be simple as doing breathing exercises like this: breathe in for 3 seconds, holding the breath for 4 seconds and breathe out for 5 seconds.
Technology is just a Tool
Technology is just a tool designed to help make our lives easier and more efficient. As we humans created computers, we should be the ones in control of them not them controlling us. We as humans have far more willpower than any piece of technology, all that we need to do is believe in our power.
Money Addictions
What are “Money Addictions”?
Money Addictions are addictions that need money to make them happen. The money is not the addiction itself, it is actually used to fuel the addiction. Two of the most notable Money Addictions are Shopping and Gambling.
How do I manage “Money Addictions”?
In short, here are 3 different strategies for you to try: Be Decisive, Control your Money OR Limit your Access. These strategies are all explained in further detail under the tabs above.
How do I “Be Decisive”?
Being Decisive involves making a decision or a plan on what you are going to do with your time or in this case money ahead of time and sticking to that plan. To help you do this, I have broken this down into steps below:
Don't be lured in
The first thing you have to do is understand that shops and gambling outlets are there to take money from you. They will try to lure you in with special offers or offering you 1 more (another item or another game), 1 more too many. I’ve tried playing claw machines for a plush toy I liked. I had seen people just win at them which told me it was possible but even though I managed to grab the plush toy it would never come to me. In the end, I realised it would be easier to buy a plush instead.
Focus on what you NEED
When I was a kid and it was Christmas, I would always ask for toys or video games as they were what I wanted. As I’ve gotten older though, I have realised that the focus of my wants and desires should be on what I need to benefit my life. This means I now focus on buying or asking for (at Christmas and on my birthday) things that I need such as a chest of drawers which I can use to store and organise things.
Make a List BEFORE you start shopping and stick to it
When my cousin and I did our food shopping, we always went to get what we thought we needed but we also got distracted by looking and buying other things we didn’t need leading us to waste more time shopping and dragging it out. To combat this, we started making a list of stuff we needed by looking around our house first beforehand so we wouldn’t waste time and money.
Procrastinate on shopping and gambling
This may sound counter productive to procrastinate on something but as autistic people we always procrastinate on things that are helpful to us and never procrastinate on those things which are unhelpful to us so perhaps it’s best to focus all of our procrastination on our negative habits instead.
How do I Procrastinate on shopping and gambling?
This can be as simple as saying you will shop and gamble later. For me, I have seen things I want to buy but then I have said to myself “I’ll come back for it another day” and by saying this I have taken the pressure off myself to compulsively buy something and give myself the time to think about whether or not I want or NEED the thing that interested me in the first place.
How do I “Control my Money”?
Controlling your Money involves looking at how money is used to make payments (usually through cash and cards) and then find ways to reduce or block these payments. To help you do this, I have broken it down into steps below:
Set a Budget
Every year I go to Comic Con. When I go there, I always prepare by working out how much it will cost me to get autographs from the famous people attending first (as they are the main reason people attend) and how much I want to spend at the shop stalls, then I take the money out accordingly. I budget it as half the money for autographs, half for the stalls and I take extra just in case.
Take only the money you need
When I have my budget sorted out for comic con, I take money with me in the form of cash so I don’t get tempted to spend more than what I have in hand and this keeps my budget on target.
Leave your cash card(s) at home
My cousin once had issues with controlling her money spending as she found that by having her cash cards with her that she felt constantly tempted to spend money. To stop this, she started leaving her cash cards at home as without them she couldn’t wildly spend.
Leave your cash card(s) with someone trustworthy
My cousin found that leaving her cash cards at home was something she couldn’t keep too. Instead, she gave her cash cards to her mother who would agree a budget cash mount to be withdrawn and make sure my cousin could not access her cards after that.
Freeze your cards temporarily
In doing research for money addictions, I learned that if someone loses their cash cards and uses a phone banking app, they can temporarily freeze their cash cards to prevent any unauthorised spending of their cards. I believe that this can also be used as a way to prevent the card’s owner from being tempted to wildly spend.
How do I “Limit my Access”?
There are two ways to access Money Addictions: Online and Offline. Online access involves spending money over the internet whereas Offline access involves spending money in a physical location such as a shop or casino. To help you do this, I have broken down both types of access into steps below:
(Online) Use Safer Gambling tools
This applies to gambling more than shopping. A lot of gambling websites nowadays offer online tools to help you keep control of your gambling such as a budget setter and time out feature which will throw you out of your gambling account and lock you out for a certain amount of time, forcing you to take time away from the addicting website.
(Online) Delete your accounts
This is one of the quickest and easiest ways to deal online money addictions just like with electronic addictions. If you have an account to a certain website that is the centre of your addiction, then deleting it will stop you from being able to immediately use it.
(Online) Block the addicting websites
For good measure, after deleting your accounts, it will be a good idea to block the websites as a double security measure to protect yourself against the addiction.
(Offline) Stay away from places that trigger your addiction
There are a few places I love to visit in my city such as a gadget shop and a video game shop. I know that if I enter these places, that I’ll start looking for something to buy so I realised that if I don’t want to buy something then I should avoid going to these shops by taking a different route around my city, even if it takes me longer to get to where I NEED to go.
(Offline) Self-Exclude yourself from gambling places
Self-Excluding yourself means asking gambling places not to allow you inside. You can do this by contacting or entering the gambling place and declaring that you want to self-exclude from them. This is only way you can block yourself from a gambling place physically.
You control the Addiction not the other way around.
Always remember, you are stronger than your addiction, you have the power to overcome it. Take back control of your addiction, don’t let it control you.
Disclaimer
GENERAL
All photos on ADDICTION page are taken from Pixabay OR Unsplash except for the ones stated below:
ELECTRONIC ADDICTIONS
The pictures for 'Hide the Influence', 'Make the Screen Look Boring' and 'Block your Access to it' in the 'Limit Access Electronically' section belong to me.
MONEY ADDICTIONS
The pictures for 'Freeze your cards temporarily' in the 'Control your Money' section and 'Block the addicting websites' in the 'Limit your Access' section belong to me.