Unit 1 Are You Hooked to It?

    A hobby is defined as an activity done regularly in one's leisure time for pleasure. An addiction is a recurring compulsion by an individual to engage in some specific activity. The word is also used colloquially to refer to some activity for which a person has an overwhelming passion. We usually think that hobbies are harmless and addictions are dangerous, because hobbies can make our lives more colourful while addictions inflict physical or spiritual dependency on something to degrees that we cannot control. In reality though, the differences between hobbies and addictions can often be confusing. Most addictions begin as hobbies. Everyone spends time and energy on hobbies, but if excessive passion about a hobby affects one's life in a negative way, it becomes addiction from which it is hard to escape.