Addict Nation – Book Review and Questions

By vinodnarayan on August 1, 2011 • ( 0 )

Addict Nation by Jane Velez Mitchell and Sandra Mohr is a look at America from the point of addiction, and in my opinion it is not just about america but also about every other developed and developing nation. As individuals the books calls its readers to look around and see who all are conspiring to keep us an addict. Though the book shows the naked truth there is no tone of hopelessness, but more a reality check that each one of us should have.

There is a significant effort that we need to invest in ourselves to identify where we stand in relation to everything we do. From eating habits to drinking to celebrity love to money to sex, we are every day being sucked into a pre-planned agenda of mental captivity. The book makes some very valid points dividing it into various types of addictions and giving some interesting numbers and facts to prove the point. The book introduces us to the stuffers who are addicted to consumption. The chapter on Pharmers who are addicted to prescription drugs and pain killers was quite shocking as it reveals the teens access to drugs through Cabinet parties (Party that has drugs from parent’s medicine cabinets as the main course)

The Cybers who are addicted to the internet, technology, and games that leaves the reality blurred in front of graphics and likes and shares. And the Players who say they are addicted to sex and that they are inherently moral and need treatment and counseling to reduce their sexual aptitude towards multiple people. Also are the punishers, Bloodlusters, Breeders, Gluttons, Scrubbers, Mongers and Sobers.

Though the underlying theme echoes the perils due to the lack of spirituality theme, My thought was the look at addiction being the result of man’s inability to be happy with himself. The book is a very easy read, funny with some numbers to make you feel you are working on some researched data and left me with a few questions as usual. Is addiction the byproduct of the progress we make? Is addiction born from an absence of happiness? Is the addiction a result of your need to be in control that manifests itself as being out of control?

A must read to see how media, technology, policy and businesses all move forward and man gets lost somewhere in between.