The idea that a digital device or service is good because it’s “addictive” seems to me to be unique in modern thinking. The fact that people speak of being addicted to their Phones or Blackberries (there’s a reason it was nicknamed “Crackberry”) is seen as a sign that the designers did a great job. Likewise, people who describe themselves as being addicted to a technology are not always being self-critical or signaling a need for help. (Sometimes they are, of course: to take but one easy-to-hand example, Dan Ariely talks about taking control of his “e-mail addiction.”)

Why is this? If someone describes themselves as addicted to alcohol or heroin, we’d definitely worry about them; less dangerous but still uncontrolled behaviors like obsessive compulsive disorders are, well, disorders. But in the tech world, addiction is usually a compliment.

When did this happen, I wonder? Is it a marketing phrase that becomes a ways of self-describing? Does it come from somewhere else?