Every addict has this feeling that perhaps, just perhaps they can simply stop practicing their vice of choice. If they are on drugs, they figure that they can just quit them. And if they are an alcoholic, they figure that they can simply drop the drink and never pick it up again. Even the online addicts may want to separate themselves from their wireless internet providers all at once. The notion of quitting cold turkey works on a lot of different levels. For one, it works along with the craziness that characterizes every kind of addiction, in which the world seems to work in ways that it realistically does not. For another thing, it works along with the ego mania that is often one of the fundamental parts of the addict’s life. After all, what is an addict without a crazy, delusional belief that they are not actually addicted to anything, and that their life is completely under their own control? But can cold turkey actually work?
In theory, all a person has got to do is stop practicing their vice of choice, and things will eventually get back to normal. Of course, a person who has a vice inevitably has an underlying problem which will ultimately cause them to go back into some kind of a vice (whether the one that they used to use, or an entirely new one) if they do not ultimately own up to the real problem underneath it all. And since most addicts are not psychologically capable of doing all of that on their own, it is most likely not going to work that way.
And naturally, if they continue to have the same social network (which almost always consists of other addicts that they can compare themselves to), quitting cold turkey is more like taking a short break from the vice. After all, when every other phone call is another invitation to use, the temptation is simply too great to refuse. And why would they? Between the physical discomfort of withdrawal, and the distorted view of the world that they have acquired through the regular practice of their vice, the world is far too scary to face without their fix.
