A short YouTube monologue by Dr. Arthur Brooks offering a simple rule to reduce addiction risk: avoid doing potentially addictive pleasures alone; prefer social, loving, and mentally engaging pleasures. He notes exceptions (non-addictive solitary pleasures like prayer or walking in the woods) and emphasizes managing pleasures to increase happiness.
You want to enjoy your life, here's the rule. If there's something that gives you pleasure, and we all have our thing that we like more than others, and if it can be addictive, which many things can, even innocent seeming things like food and the Internet, if you're using it alone, you're using it wrong. It's not a perfect rule. There are lots of things that bring pleasure that you can do alone, like saying your prayers and walking in the woods. They're not addictive. This is the way to think about it. To be social, to do things with love, to use your brain and to manage your pleasures. This will bring more happiness.
