Luna Bliss

Self-medicating isn't good and is harmful to the person doing it. So yes it is addiction. Please stop disregarding that. I mean I stated, I was chasing the high. How is that not being an addict? These people like myself, should be seeking professional help and not self-medicating. This nonchalant approach stigmatizes the need for one to reach out for help, I never said self-medicating is the best way to treat a medical condition. They need to seek help and obtain optimal brain functioning with professional help. I simply said I don't consider it addiction. Most importantly I would not judge them negatively as society often does when someone uses an illegal substance.

Please stop, you are doing harm every time you discuss addiction in hateful, unhelpful terms, victim blaming, shaming, and worse. Please. You, and some others (like the OP) are painting SL in a bad light when you claim it's filled with addicts. Most people in SL are not addicts. My pointing this out has no bearing on my opinion of those who are true addicts (as I've said before, I have nothing but empathy for their plight).

laaaaaaaaafs

Well, addicts tend to use what they are addicted to as a means to escape. So ergo, they are miserable. I mean I am an ex cocaine addict, and I used it to feel normal. I was absolutely miserable with an ADHD brain, that would have 300000 thoughts a second. This quieted it all down. And it made me happy and not miserable, until I came down. Then I would chase that high to feel normal again. I don't think people who take advantage of a chemical to make their brain functional are actually addicts, no more than I'd think someone who used drugs used to treat depression is an addict.

Why are you putting a stigma on a mental health issue? There are people who are actually addicted and can't differentiate between reality and fantasy. Who need help. I mean sure it can both be a good habit and an addiction, but the fact that you are disregarding any person who actually needs help and needs to get off of SL. I'm not "disregarding any person who actually needs help and needs to get off of SL", nor am I "putting a stigma on mental health issues". I'm pointing out that most people in SL are not addicts in the true sense of the word. Additionally, I don't like the OP painting SL with a wide brush and claiming SL is mainly about addiction. It's simply not.

I thought every 'addict' you ever met was miserable! Yes, every addict I've known (talking about someone actually addicted and not just embodying a habit they'd rather not have) has been miserable. 1. Miserable: severely unhappy or uncomfortable. Humans need to have a measure of control over their lives in order to feel happy, and so feeling out of control in major ways is threatening and beyond uncomfortable. Nothing spells 'out of control' better than true addiction -- addicts are a slave to something outside themselves, and often with dire consequence. Maybe you are thinking of another definition of 'miserable'. 2. Miserable: inadequate, meager, insufficient, pathetic It should have been obvious from previous context that I'm going by definition number 1, as I expressed great empathy for those with mental health issues repeatedly and have never condemned them or thought them 'pathetic'. When someone is an enemy, Love, there's a tendency to interpret their comments in a negative fashion, and you did this when you totally ignored context. I think most people in SL are simply choosing one habit/entertainment over another and are not 'addicts' in the true sense of the word -- addiction is a much more severe type of habit.

An interesting article on how to become "addicted" to the right things, although I still balk at using the term 'addiction' when developing a 'habit' seems more appropriate. Anyway, SL can become a good habit if you wish it to be so. https://www.deprocrastination.co/blog/choose-your-addiction

I should read all the pages before posting in threads. Seriously. For what it's worth, I used to be one of the most toxic people on the internet. All of the worst that exudes from people originates in pain, and when they try to connect with others as a way of easing the pain, and the toxicity leaks around and drives others away, a person who can't see that they are the one who needs to heal their own heart will tend to simply take it out on everyone else. It's a desperate attempt to cling to a false self-image created to explain why people don't like you without it being all your own fault. At least in my own experience it was. I was powerful, smart, capable, charismatic, and charming, and the rest of the internet were the pheebs. How dare they not realize how great I am? I'll show them all! Every troll I've ever met in SL was like meeting myself in a past life. Like looking at old pictures of myself. I like to think Second Life has helped me to make some positive changes in how I view myself, others, and the world. If it hadn't, my friends list would be empty. So yeah. I may not be all that good at being a friend, but then I hadn't much practice back in childhood when everyone else was learning how to do that. The difference between now and then is that I actually want to be a friend to others and not just have friends for myself. I loved hearing your story, and am so happy you are doing well now! ♥

The best solution to this problem we're discussing is for them to stand on stage using the Senra body with the Senra AO:

Twas an amazing Beltane:

The Beltane dance begins...

Well...a cross between Sandor & Bagnu could be SandBag

Druid In The Park

prays

Can I just call you 'Bag'? ;0

Dakini ceremony!

I was about ready to jump into this rustic hot tub but I think not...

The "power" is Maya, and they are lost in bondage (not the kinky kind).

I think we're going to have to face this eventually but right now the regulatory environment in most countries makes this an enormously lucrative business and I know those involved won't want to give it up easily or even reduce their rather large share of the pie. We've allowed a global economy to emerge where we charge ludicrous sums for the transfer of tiny packets of information, there's nothing especially expensive about handling online transactions other than the wrangling that is involved in obtaining the licenses to do so. I don't know how we fix this, cryptocurrency (I know, I know) was one idea but rather quickly being made less and less viable due to how disruptive it can be to those currently making out like bandits. It's never easy to fight against those in power

In a capitalist system the top will squeeze as much as they can from those who work for them. We must resist! We need a freelancers on the internet lobby.

I just love this thread...you never know what it will evolve into. Now it's dead chickens.

Perhaps all who create for these online corporations should get a better deal? Why should SL conform to the too-low payments creators receive on other platforms? As more and more of RL moves online I'd like to see all who create for online platforms get a better deal. In other words, let's not funnel too much of the money to CEO's. However I don't know SL's financials, and realize they do need to keep afloat. Also I don't know what those at the top are making -- could be it's not in excess as RL execs make these days. But to automatically think those at the bottom of a community should pay more is faulty thinking.