When a new thing comes along people say it’ll never catch on. When it catches on they say it’s a fad. When the fad gains enough traction, they say it’s an addiction. Let’s see where we’ve gotten our fix over the years…

Novels

When books came down in cost, novels became a popular form of entertainment, with some calling the new trend “reading mania” or “reading lust.” In 1795, author J. G. Heinzmann insisted that such devotion caused “weakening of the eyes, heat rashes, gout, arthritis, hemorrhoids, asthma, apoplexy, pulmonary disease, indigestion, blocking of the bowels, nervous disorder, migraines, epilepsy, hypochondria and melancholy.” Turns out, not so much.

In 1888 an article called novel reading “evil” and compared it to “dram drinking” (an old-time term for boozing.)

In 1897 it was reported that a sermon given by a minster decried novel reading, the minister proclaimed: “Perhaps ninety-nine out of a hundred are baleful, an outrage on decency and common sense.” A novel was also blamed for corruption of morals and even a wave of suicides.

In the late 1800s and early 1900s cheap novels for children, called dime novels, became popular. An addiction to them was seen as the cause of two boys shooting a stranger in 1883. They were also blamed for a number of other crimes committed by kids (1, 2).

Telephones

In 1958, phones were called a teenage addiction by one article, with one “expert psychoanalyst” blaming “examples set by similarly addicted mothers.”

The psychoanalyst also claimed “telephone addicts are driven by a desire somewhat akin to the child’s earlier infantile need for actual bodily contact with the mother.”

As late as 1984, an article claimed “One of the most serious, unreported, disabling, anti-social diseases in America today is that of telephone addiction.”

When telephones became available on flights, it was seen as just another way for telephone addicts to get their “fix.”

As late as 1989, the New York Times reported that Americans were becoming addicted to phone calls, and did “not have enough time to cook, clean, see their children or just relax.”

Comic books

When comics rose in popularity, “comic book addiction” was used as a defense in a number of court cases. Pictured below, a defense attorney, and a child accused of committing a murder, posing for press photographs.

Addiction to comics was also blamed for a horrific assault by three young boys in Indiana.

Comics were the perfect scapegoat for unthinkable crimes committed by children, and defense lawyers exploited the fear. Psychiatrist Fredric Werham wrote a book on the subject titled Seduction of the Innocent that explored the dangers of this strange new vice. It was a bestseller.

Radio

In 1936, prominent education author Azriel L. Eisenberg argued that radio had “brought many a disturbing influence in its wake,” and that parents “cannot lock out this intruder because it has gained an invincible hold of their children.”

Radio listening habits were also lamented in 1939 as replacing more traditional childhood pastimes, like playing cops and robbers.

A 1946 Parent Teacher Association report stated that radio could be used as a “means of emotional overstimulation or as a retreat into a shadow world of reality.” Excessive listening was, no surprise, also partly blamed for a murder committed by a 14-year-old in 1957.

Television

Television was the archetype of addictive technologies for decades. A 1977 New York Times review of the The Plugin Drug asked “Does television hurt the head?”

Drawing by Steven Guarnaccia for The New York Times

Decades earlier, in 1954, another Times piece blamed rising travel costs in England on television addiction due to people traveling less at night.

A psychoanalyst in 1956 said, “Television watching can be habit-forming to the point of real addiction, requiring professional help to cure.” Some said not only that TV was addictive, but that there was no cure. Others compared it to opiates.

The drug addiction comparisons kept coming. As with other entertainment mediums before it, television’s effect on children was a big concern and like with dime novels and comics, addiction to it was blamed for murders.

Video games

In 1981 video games were called the “newest addiction,” retreading the same panicked ground.

In 1982, the “magnetic pull of coin-operated video games” prompted parents to call on local governments to ban them in commercial outlets. At the end of the 80s a New York Times writer, unsurprisingly, compared Nintendo to opiates.

China banned video game consoles in 2000, citing “parental outcry” and concerns around video game addiction. The ban stayed in place for 14 years.