Addiction to portable music players is a very common one, in my opinion. I know a lot of people who are addicted and one of those people is me. I bring my iPod in every car ride, even if it's just down the road, I bring it to parties sometimes because I don't wanna talk to people etc. Addiction to them means that you have a strong compulsion to be using it most, if not all, the time. Although, in a lot of situations, music players can be very convenient such as, when there's an annoying person around, or when you're feeling down you can always listen to your music. You can also have really awesome theme music for life like, driving music, epic music, workout music, romantic music, "i really don't wanna listen in class" music. Sometimes, iPods or MP3 players don't have just music, they can have educational stuff too. Such as book readings, podcasts, lessons for different languages etc. But some people like their music louder. They like to turn up the volume to the max and that can damage your ears severely, and in some extreme cases, deafness. Most addicts are listening to their music almost every second of every hour of every day right? So what about social interaction? Isn't that important? Some people are becoming more and more anti-social because of their addiction to music players. They turn it up to signal that they don't want to be talked to and they become more anti-social and may even lose a couple of friends in the process. A lot of addicts also miss a lot of things in life because they're too busy listening to their new song. They may miss things such as the beauty of nature or even just the simple little things around them. It can also make them very distracted when they drive because they may not hear on-coming vehicles on the road.  

If you're addicted and trying to stop, here's some tips to help you:

• Stop it early
• If you’re just getting into an addiction, stop before it’s too late or if you just bought one for a child, teach them not to become obsessed.

        Have hard boundaries and limits

              For kids, or even yourself, set boundaries and stick to them. Set them about when and where you should be using your music device.

Sources:

Website Title: Radical Parenting

URL: http://www.radicalparenting.com/2009/02/05/ipod-addiction-8-pros-vs-cons-and-how-to-balance/

Date retrieved: 17/09/2012