alt Hacker News> more addicting than cigarettes [...] also boring and drab
That's not actually a contradiction.
With addictions, it's extremely common for someone to do $THING not because of any (remotely durable) sense of happiness, but simply "to feel normal", as not-doing it feels empty or wrong or painful or intrusive.
If people are feeling hopelessly stuck repeating behaviors they don't actually enjoy, that's more like evidence for addiction rather than against it.
Addiction is really boring and makes you really boring. That’s part of why it’s so terrible.
When William Burroughs was on heroin he would spend 6 hours or so a day just staring at his shoe.