<p>For something to be considered a mental disorder worthy of it's own definition,  it needs to have some really strong effects that are consistently different from others definitions and are not explained by co-morbidity of others.</p>

<p>ADHD, OCD, and Tourettes all exhibit co-morbidity and common brain regions, but since the symptoms and treatment differ so radically, we treat them as distinct from each other.</p>

<p>In short, you are asking the wrong question : )  I'm sure there is plenty of good lit out there on helping people to the point of harming oneself.  Usually, however, this type of "addiction" is a better understood as a generalized form of something else and you would be hard pressed to come up with symptoms and treatments that would generalize only to help addicts of sites like stack exchange.</p>

<p>It's like talking about "breast cancer" instead of categorizing it according to cell types, treatment, etc.  Sure, you will get more money for breast cancer than a-morphic-sciency-sounding cancer, but that doesn't help one predict what could kill it.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-03-11T01:32:19.210Z
2013-03-11T01:32:19.210Z
Indolering
<p>I recently looked at the <a href="http://meta.math.stackexchange.com/q/4699/19341">meta.math.stackexchange.com</a> and found the second anniversary was celebrated. As in the last year's Happy-Birthday post (linked therein) , some people declared the addiction to the site.</p>

<p>My question is: What kind of addiction is this?</p>

<p>Certainly some kind of internet addiction, combined with a good portion of gamification, represented by reputation, badges, ...
But in this case, I think there is also some kind of altruistic helper-syndrome. </p>

<p>Does this make math addiction a good one? Are there examples of helpful, let's say in a social sense, addictions?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-07-24T12:10:19.647Z
There are other examples of people discussing addiction on Stack Exchange sites. For example, Meta Stack Overflow has an [addiction tag](http://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/addiction). The problem with your search is that you are ignoring the original trilogy plus it appears that meta sites (where this discussion would be happening) are lower in the rankings.
Thomas Owens
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-07-24T12:13:25.050Z
@ThomasOwens didn't know that. Terrifying...
draks ...
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-07-24T12:18:38.807Z
@draks: There are users who have said they are "addicted" on  *all* the Stack Exchange sites, so I removed the portion of your question specific to Math. I think it's borderline on-topic now... we'll see how the community receives it!
Josh
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-07-26T12:56:11.567Z
Could [this](http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/feb/03/twitter-resist-cigarettes-alcohol-study) be related?
Alpha
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-11-08T08:08:58.170Z
Stackexchange sites are still relatively new. Sites like http://hubpages.com/ have bigger audience, and bigger incentive to write (more badges, plus affiliate revenue). I was writing on that site for quite some time. I think the addiction is due to ranking numbers and social interaction. people like to "grind stats" :)
Alex Stone
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-11-10T03:15:34.607Z
dangerous how? spending too much time on SE may be detrimental to your social life. but you're also helping a lot of SE consumers. what exactly do you want to know? and can you form the question in such a way that requires a concrete, objective answer? otherwise i vote to close.
Jeff
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-03-28T20:40:20.093Z
I think this needs to be reformulated to general internet addiction or closed as non-productive.
Indolering
<social-psychology><gamification><addiction>
Is StackExchange.com Addiction Dangerous?
draks ...
# Is StackExchange.com Addiction Dangerous?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2012-07-24)

I recently looked at the [meta.math.stackexchange.com](http://meta.math.stackexchange.com/q/4699/19341) and found the second anniversary was celebrated. As in the last year's Happy-Birthday post (linked therein) , some people declared the addiction to the site.

My question is: What kind of addiction is this?

Certainly some kind of internet addiction, combined with a good portion of gamification, represented by reputation, badges, ...
But in this case, I think there is also some kind of altruistic helper-syndrome.

Does this make math addiction a good one? Are there examples of helpful, let's say in a social sense, addictions?

**Tags:** social-psychology, gamification, addiction

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: There are other examples of people discussing addiction on Stack Exchange sites. For example, Meta Stack Overflow has an [addiction tag](http://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/addiction). The problem with your search is that you are ignoring the original trilogy plus it appears that meta sites (where this discussion would be happening) are lower in the rankings.  
> **username_0**: @ThomasOwens didn't know that. Terrifying...  
> **username_2**: @draks: There are users who have said they are "addicted" on  *all* the Stack Exchange sites, so I removed the portion of your question specific to Math. I think it's borderline on-topic now... we'll see how the community receives it!  
> **username_3**: Could [this](http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/feb/03/twitter-resist-cigarettes-alcohol-study) be related?  
> **username_4**: Stackexchange sites are still relatively new. Sites like http://hubpages.com/ have bigger audience, and bigger incentive to write (more badges, plus affiliate revenue). I was writing on that site for quite some time. I think the addiction is due to ranking numbers and social interaction. people like to "grind stats" :)  
> **username_5**: dangerous how? spending too much time on SE may be detrimental to your social life. but you're also helping a lot of SE consumers. what exactly do you want to know? and can you form the question in such a way that requires a concrete, objective answer? otherwise i vote to close.  
> **username_6**: I think this needs to be reformulated to general internet addiction or closed as non-productive.  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_6 on 2013-03-11. Score: 3 | Accepted answer

For something to be considered a mental disorder worthy of it's own definition, it needs to have some really strong effects that are consistently different from others definitions and are not explained by co-morbidity of others.

ADHD, OCD, and Tourettes all exhibit co-morbidity and common brain regions, but since the symptoms and treatment differ so radically, we treat them as distinct from each other.

In short, you are asking the wrong question : ) I'm sure there is plenty of good lit out there on helping people to the point of harming oneself. Usually, however, this type of "addiction" is a better understood as a generalized form of something else and you would be hard pressed to come up with symptoms and treatments that would generalize only to help addicts of sites like stack exchange.

It's like talking about "breast cancer" instead of categorizing it according to cell types, treatment, etc. Sure, you will get more money for breast cancer than a-morphic-sciency-sounding cancer, but that doesn't help one predict what could kill it.


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