The Internet is simply the mother of all enablers, allowing users to obsess over things that normally they wouldn't be so capable of.  It is the medium between users and real addictions like porn, gambling, news, video games, and socializing.  It's anonymous, affordable, and accessible.  In the past month or two, I've noticed a new addiction arise, one that's more powerful and widespread than ever, election addiction.            
      People are compulsively spending huge chunks of time surfing political sites and video sharing sites, social bookmarking services and news sites. They're looking for content that supports their political opinions and candidates, then e-mailing links to people who disagree.  Things really got crazy with the nomination of Sarah Palin, with fans defending the GOP VP pick, and detractors slamming it. And now, in the final week of the election, the addiction seems to have taken over the lives of millions. Election addiction feels like you're doing something important.  Unlike other addictions, like porn and gambling, there's no shame involved.  It feeds off the election addiction of other people. And it can feel justifiable in part because it's rare and temporary, just one more week!  I'm not slamming the election process or anything like that, but I have noticed a couple of my friends who are definately obsessed with the election.  And it actually consumes much of their time, even at work!

Election is what everyone has been talking about recently. I think this election is the most tense of them all. I've had some vicious arguments with some of my friends over who should be the president and why yes or not. And usually I hate politics. i've spent hours watching the debate online and looking up the poll scores. And I know a lot of others who have also done this. But its not bad like all the other internet addictions. This one will only last temporarily and were fueling our minds with knowledge of what our new president would do. I cant wait till next tuesday when we finally find out who our next leader is. I'm anxious and I'm going to be extremely angry if a certain someone wins!!

Lol which certain someone did you not want to win? I was going for Obama and I'm sooo glad he won! I got pretty riled up in this election as well when I normally don't. I think its because during the last election I didn't know much about policts and like a year later I took a poli-sci class and it taught me a lot and got me to be a lot more itnerested. But this election will go down in history and trully is the most important one. We had our first women running for president, and now have the first black president. Looking at this from like 5 years ago I never thought it would be possible. It's really amazing, and things really did change. I dont think an election addiction is a bad thing. Infact I think its a good addiction, it helps us learn about our new presidents and all the things that will go on in our country and many, many of it will affect us. We should all be aware of that.

At least they are focusing on something that most people aren't
educated enough about. It is very important to be fully informed about
both candidates and make your judgment based off that. Now that it's
over are you saying the addiction ends? Even if it continues I think
it's good for people to know what's going on around them.

If someone is irresponsible enough to obsess about the election to the point where it becomes an addiction, then they probably need help in the first place.  There are many addicts who can easily jump from one addiction to another, despite consequences.  However, compared to other things, election addiction is probably the least harmful.  It makes no sense to vote for someone without knowing what they stand for.  I know a lot of people who were just voting for obama because of his race.  And many other voters were voting for mccain because he's a republican and they consider themselves conservative.  But whatever the reason, voters should be well informed.  Especially about propositions!

brokenpieces said: At least they are focusing on something that most people aren't
educated enough about. It is very important to be fully informed about
both candidates and make your judgment based off that. Now that it's
over are you saying the addiction ends? Even if it continues I think
it's good for people to know what's going on around them.

I think they'd be having election withdrawal by this time LOL.  I agree though, it's actually good to be well informed about the candidates and the events of our country.  If no one cared, then the country will just get worse and worse.  We are a democracy, the people need to participate!

People usually go off of what they hear and the information they hear is usually very bias. You know usually most the people vote for the same people who their family votes for, what their teachers say, and their pastors. Why? Because they go along with what they hear, if your mom says Obama is bad, and you dad, then you probably think the same thing. If a teacher said that then they're probably going to give off their bias opinion and you'll probably side with them because its your teacher is teaching you. And your pastor ofcourse because you take your pastors advice for many things. But people need to do the research themselves so they can hear both sides and learn for themselves. People have different opinions than their families and teachers and pastors. They need to learn about their next leaders and what their plans are.