Addictions & Liberation
Linas JuozėnasShare
Understanding Habits, Addiction and Change
Explore questions of choice, dependence, recovery and the kind of life you want to build.
Start with a question about your own life, a pattern you want to understand or someone you care about. Follow the connections between reflection, substance use, digital habits and the support people may need.
A few ways into the collection
Begin with reflection
Explore the opening questions, then read about learned beliefs and emotions and critical thinking. Keep a question from your own experience in mind.
Understand a pattern
Find the relevant subject in addiction and habits, then explore planning change and support alongside the social and environmental context.
Explore support and community
Read about compassion and careful inquiry, consider supportive surroundings, then explore continued growth and helping others.
Thought, Choice and Liberation
Start with the questions behind the collection: how do we examine familiar reactions, understand the influences around us and decide what freedom means in everyday life? These opening pages introduce the themes that follow.
- Opening essayDoes Humanity Truly Think?A philosophical starting point for examining independent thought, automatic reactions and the influences on human judgment.→
- Addictions and LiberationThe collection introduction: explore the connections among habits, addiction, personal agency, recovery and support.→
Defensive Reactions and Learned Beliefs
Explore the assumptions we bring to a conversation and the ways we respond when an idea feels uncomfortable. Approach these questions with curiosity about context, experience and perspective, including your own.
- Section introductionIntroduction: Defensive Reactions and Pretrained DataAn introduction to defensiveness and learned expectations, using “pretrained data” as a metaphor for prior experience.→
- The Spark of CuriosityQuestions, uncertainty and the willingness to look more closely at something that once seemed settled.→
- Understanding DefensivenessAn exploration of protective reactions, perceived challenges and the circumstances surrounding a difficult conversation.→
- Pretrained Data and BiasesHow the metaphor of prior “training” relates to experience, expectations and biases in interpreting information.→
- Self-Reflection ToolsPrompts and approaches for examining beliefs, reactions and recurring situations with curiosity and care.→
Understanding Addiction and Repeated Behavior
Explore the collection’s articles on alcohol, caffeine, smoking and digital habits, alongside the concepts of reward, tolerance and withdrawal. Each topic has its own context; use the individual pages to examine the questions in more detail.
- Section introductionThe Real Threats and the Science of AddictionA starting point for studying addiction, dependence and repeated behavior, including the language used to describe them.→
- Alcohol: Cultural Roles, Consequences and the Path to RejectionAlcohol in social life: cultural expectations, health consequences and the experiences of choosing not to drink.→
- Caffeine: The Acceptable StimulantCaffeine use, tolerance, withdrawal and everyday routines, alongside questions about its place in work and social life.→
- Cigarettes: The Weaponised AddictionNicotine dependence, cigarette design and tobacco marketing, with attention to both personal experience and commercial influence.→
- Doom-Scrolling and Digital OverloadRepeated checking, news feeds and digital overload: examine attention, emotional responses and everyday screen habits.→
- The Future of Doom-Scrolling and BeyondQuestions about emerging media, immersive technology and how future platforms might compete for people’s attention.→
- Dopamine, Tolerance and WithdrawalThe roles of dopamine and adaptation, and the distinctions among reward, tolerance, dependence and withdrawal.→
- Breaking the LoopAn exploration of cues, routines and consequences, and approaches to understanding a pattern you want to change.→
Emotional Awareness and Critical Thinking
Bring feelings, evidence and context into the same conversation. These pages explore coping, compassionate responses and ways to examine persuasive claims while allowing space for disagreement and uncertainty.
- Section introductionEmotional Intelligence and Critical ThinkingThe relationship between emotional awareness and careful reasoning when considering choices, claims and difficult situations.→
- Healthy Coping Strategies and CompassionResponses to distress considered through compassion, practical support and respect for individual circumstances.→
- Core Principles of Critical InquiryQuestions for evaluating evidence, checking sources and revising a conclusion when the available information changes.→
- Detecting Manipulation and PropagandaPersuasive techniques, misleading framing and emotional pressure, with attention to evidence when assessing a specific claim.→
- Balancing Openness and ScepticismHow to consider unfamiliar ideas while asking proportionate questions about evidence, credibility and uncertainty.→
Planning Change and Finding Support
Explore goals, routines, practical barriers and the support available when someone wants to change a pattern. This section includes professional guidance, responses to setbacks and ways to notice progress without turning it into a competition.
- Section introductionSteps to Quitting and Sustaining ChangeAn overview of preparing for change, considering support needs and planning beyond the initial decision to stop.→
- Recognising the Problem and Setting GoalsExamining a pattern’s effects and developing goals that reflect personal reasons, priorities and circumstances.→
- Habit Replacement and Reward SystemsAlternative routines and rewards, considered alongside the situations and needs a repeated behavior may involve.→
- Relapse Management and Professional GuidanceSetbacks, reassessment and professional support, including questions about the care appropriate to a person’s situation.→
- Accountability Tools and Celebrating MilestonesJournals, trackers and supportive relationships, with attention to privacy, choice and personally meaningful signs of progress.→
- Financial and Opportunity Cost AnalysisA closer look at the time, spending and missed possibilities associated with a recurring pattern.→
The Social and Environmental Context
Look beyond the individual to relationships, living conditions, commercial interests and public decisions. Explore how these subjects enter debates about substance use, support, responsibility and the opportunities people have to make changes.
- Section introductionThe Forces Around the HabitAn introduction to the social, cultural, commercial and policy contexts surrounding habits and dependence.→
- Peer Pressure and Cultural NormsBelonging, celebration and expectations, including questions about responding to pressure and respecting another person’s choices.→
- Creating a Supportive EnvironmentRelationships, surroundings and practical arrangements considered through the needs and preferences of the person seeking change.→
- The Fight on Drugs vs. Alcohol NormalisationA comparison of public attitudes and policy approaches toward alcohol and other drugs, including questions about consistency.→
- Political Paralysis and Societal ImpactDebates about policy, competing interests and the consequences of action or inaction for communities.→
- Historical and Cultural PerspectivesChanging views of substance use, restraint and dependence across different societies and periods of history.→
Continuing Forward: Life, Growth and Community
Return to the collection’s central ideas and explore what continued support, participation and personal growth might mean. These pages also consider sharing knowledge and helping others in ways that respect their choices and boundaries.
- Closing overviewConclusion: The Path ForwardBring together reflection, recovery, critical thinking and the wider questions of care, choice and community.→
- Recap and ReinforcementRevisit the collection’s main ideas and identify the questions or practices you want to understand more deeply.→
- Long-Term Maintenance and Personal GrowthOngoing routines, changing priorities and personal interests beyond an initial goal or milestone.→
- Physical Health and Nutrition ConsiderationsSleep, food, hydration, movement and healthcare as topics to consider within a broader approach to recovery.→
- Encouraging Community AdvocacyCommunity education, public discussion and practical support, with attention to whose experiences and needs are represented.→
- Pay It ForwardSharing time, understanding or practical help while respecting another person’s pace, privacy and freedom to choose.→