David Foster Wallace figured that everyone was addicted to something. In light of that, the real question is: what should we be addicted to? Maybe it sounds outlandish to suggest that we ought to be addicted to this that or the other thing. But maybe it’s also the case that it couldn’t be any other way. If that’s true, what does it say about how we should live our lives?

You can’t escape routine in some form or another, no matter how adventurous you try to make your life. It’s easy to think of routine as a pair of proverbial irons around the ankles, but I’ve found that in the course of trying to shake some of my own bad habits, positive habit-forming is an invaluable tool in the process of getting your life together – especially when we’re talking about the pleasant ones.

Dopamine is the big factor in addiction, and it isn’t difficult to understand why. It’s the hormone that determines behaviour reinforcement. Everything from your little problem with your Instagram feed to a hardcore porn addiction can be understood in terms of dopamine. Here’s the bit that gets me most of all: anything really fun will involve its interactions in some form or another.

“Regularity in any form is comforting, it’s a fact”

Obviously, there are toxic factors, and quick withdrawal from certain substances can cause serious damage; it can even kill you. Recovering alcoholics are often advised to not go fully cold turkey because of the physiological strain this could cause. In other cases, the intensity of the dopamine hit can make something far more difficult to kick than otherwise. But the psychology around addiction as we understand it now is clear: dopamine plays a big role, and you can get a dopamine hit from plenty of things other than a key-bump or the odd joint.

Sports seem like a solid answer to the question of: how am I going get my fix today? I certainly don’t mind. It’s a preferable option to the alternatives. But it can be anything as simple as cleaning your room or folding your socks. The key as I see it is ritual. Studies show that some of the biggest dopamine hits are results of ritual or preparation rather than the substance itself. Anyone who has tried to quit smoking will know that it’s significantly easier to do if you find yourself some other excuse to get your daily fresh air.

Regularity in any form is comforting, it’s a fact. It doesn’t matter if you’re trying to quit hard drugs or cut down on your sugar intake: in the course of changing your habits you’re going to experience a little pinch. Finding another, healthier source of comfort can be the necessary bridge over troubled waters.

“Social factors play a huge role in matters of addiction”

Sadly, one of the biggest predictors for developing addiction is social isolation. It’s well known that during the Vietnam War, plenty of GIs defaulted to readily accessible heroin in order to deal with the trauma and discomfort of their daily lives. It might surprise you to learn that those GIs who returned from overseas to healthy homes and family lives were significantly less likely to continue use compared to those who did not have such happy homes to return to. It seems pretty clear to me that healthy emotional attachment can be a significant predictor for recovery from addictive behaviours.

Social factors play a huge role in matters of addiction. Coming back to our smoking example, I definitely found it easier to quit smoking once I stopped spending so much time with smokers. Not that there’s anything wrong with smokers, the problem is that I just get too much dopamine from spending time with them! There’s this saying: “Neurons that fire together, wire together.” It’s real fun and catchy, but there’s serious truth in it. Positive social interactions lead to some of the larger dopamine releases; this is how you catch yourself living the life of a ‘social’ smoker.

It’s no lie that we live the high-life in a number of respects here at the good old University of Cambridge. But we also live stressful, and at times very lonely lives due to the sheer volume of work that each of us are saddled with on a daily basis. Contrary to the intuition, people don’t form negative addictions for no reason and then start living a bad life because of the addiction, they form addictions because they’re already living bad lives. Bad can mean stressful, and it can also mean lonely.

As an outsider American looking in over the course of the last twelve-or-so-years, I’ve grown to fear and respect the mighty British drinking culture, especially as it manifests among the student population. If you happen to have a friend that you fear for that way, for whatever reason, the best thing to do might just be a bit of unconditional care