OK here's my theory about the addictiveness of the reef hobby and the addictiveness of the Canreef forum. Which is quite similar to the addictiveness of watching hockey on TV.
But before that I have to say this forum has been extremely helpful and useful, as well as being friendly and easygoing unlike a large un-named American forum. I have only had one person on this forum try to flame me and he shut up when I invited him to meet me in person.
My theory is that addictive time-wasting pastimes (like reefing, or going on internet forums, or watching hockey on TV) are a form of displacement in order to deal with stress and anxiety.
In university at exam time life was stressful and no one including me could keep their eyes off the hockey on TV. However once exams were done I absolutely couldn't care about the hockey or who won the playoffs, I couldn't sit through a game it was so boring.
With reefing I found I got really into the hobby when I felt a lot of stress in life including work stresses. Lately I have less and less interest in the hobby and this coincides with a time when life is pretty well stress free.
At least for me the addictive type behaviours correlate well with stress so it seems they are a coping mechanism perhaps for displacing attention away from work and other issues and focusing on things that don't really matter like a reef tank.
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