In this day and age, the words obsession, compulsion and addiction are tossed about rather easily to describe just about any time person is heavily involved in something. Referring not to substances such as drugs or alcohol, or even food, but in reference to activities, sometimes these words are over used. Where is the line between a passion or enjoyable obsession with something as opposed to an addiction that needs help to put an end to it? When you find a new hobby that you really enjoy and spend as much time as possible in pursuit of it, some people believe this is passion while others believe it is an unhealthy obsession and maybe even addiction. This is especially true of adults in reference to children’s fixations.
Passion for something implies enjoyment as well as the ability to focus on whatever it is for long periods of time and often. The same interpretation could be made to be unhealthy obsession by those looking to label the intense fascination as something it is not. While addiction and unhealthy obsessions are very real problems that require intense work on the part of those affected by them, there is a line that must be crossed before it becomes a problem. Long periods of time spent doing something does not constitute an addiction, neither does an avid pursuit. All too often, in this society, parents lament that their children will not do a particular thing for more than five minutes and yet those same parents lament when their children find things they enjoy doing for long periods of time. It is these parents that cry addiction when a child is merely passionate about his latest hobby.
This is not to downplay addictions, however if a child spends 3 hours playing a video game and 3 hours reading a book, does the parent worry about the reading time the same way they do the game time? It is important for parents to be careful before they worry and stop children from enjoying and learning from their pursuits fully.
