Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Habits

habit: 1. an acquired behavior pattern regularly followed until it has become almost involuntary: the habit of looking both ways before crossing the street.

A co-worker who has to say “Help Desk this is Kevin” all day said he recently said “Help Desk this is Kevin” when he was at home. I can remember a roommate who after every work day would come home make something to eat and then go watch tv until he fell asleep in the recliner. I have a habit of picking up peoples pens at work because I need something to write with, I have no memory of doing it, just at some point during the day realize I have a different pen in my hand. Same thing as leaving something somewhere and not remembering where I left it. How did I develop this habit of picking up something or leaving something behind and having no recollection of learning this action?

Notice in the definition how it says, “acquired”and also the word “involuntary”. How many habits have I acquired besides my little pen trick? What about watching television? The more I watch the longer i can sit and watch that tube for 3 hours and it seems like one hour. The less I watch tv, one hour feels like 3 hours. So the more I do something the less I think about it.

At what point do my habits turn into addiction? I guess if its a chemical addiction. Exactly what is a chemical addiction? Something the brain gets used to having and then can't get anymore. Can the brain produce it's own chemicals, or wire itself from something visual, or just in thought and then when it can't get its fix anymore could something similar happen like a chemical that enters from outside the body?

I've never thought much about habits. The thought that I am subconsciously developing
habits is a scary thing, unknowingly creating connections between neurons to assist with these habits is even more scary. I need a monitoring system to keep track of all the habits I'm subconsciously developing, and also point out which actions I'm already doing but don't realize its a habit.