Does Obsession Scare You?

[SirShadowdeath]

I have a simple Question for all bronies AND non-bronies of the world (well, this forum. You catch my drift). My question is...Does [Over]Obsession scare you? Do you like it? Do you hate it?

I only ask of this because I've been looking around the internet lately, and I haven't been pleased with what I've seen. Does it scare you that people are so obsessed with fantasies and what not that they go to extremes to make reality bearable for them?

(I'm not just talking about MLP here. I'm talking about everything. Anything.)

I looked around the internet today, and noticed the real problems some people have. I'd post links to demonstrate, but it's extremely NSFW. EXTREMELY.

[Candlemare]

I wouldn't say I'm terribly active on the internet, but I did once encounter what you're describing. When I was in my mid teens I drew a stupid little picture of Jervis Tetch (Batman's Mad Hatter) and threw in a female March Hare for the heck of it and posted it on my former DA account.

All was well until this looney in her twenties found it. Turns out she was beyond obsessed with the Mad Hatter to the point she considered herself to really be her own OC and had journal entries as well as fanfictions detailing their life together. She even made a journal entry about me, claiming I was a slut who couldn't keep my legs together because I liked the same freaking cartoon character as her. This was my first experience with being attacked on the internet, much less with a psychopath, so I was quite scared.

I can understand being a die hard fan, but that was just way too far.

[SirShadowdeath]

That's exactly what I mean.

Here's a simple, yet depressing story of an event in my life.

I used to have a small blog, which had a good anount of followers. I talked about basic stuff. Writing, programming, psychology, issues, stuff like that. (Please note this is before MLP FiM became widespread. At this point, it was just starting to gain a few followers.) Anyway, I had mentioned MLP FiM on a blog post. Apparently, my mass amount on activity of the internet had earned me some fans prior to this point. Anyway, this one follower of my blog was an extremist brony. And I mean extreme. Anyway, when I mentioned MLP, this is basically what I said.

"Look, another kid's show picking up popularity on the internet. Looks like I'll have to check it out or whatever one day."

This recieved a mix number if responses.

This one brony sent me over one hundred emails asking me about My Little Pony. And these weren't normal questions. Some of these include:

[Not quoted for respectable reasons]

-Ask me if you need any pony pr0n!

-What's your MLP sexual fantasy?

Stuff like that. Some of which I won't go into

Anywy, I had assumed it was a joke until the messages kept coming. And not just from him. I had a collection of over 300 emails about this crap. I deleted all of them, and made a post saying to stop sending emails about MLP FiM to me. This brony became very upset, even though I didn't mention him at all. He spammed my inbox with hateful messages, and tried to spam my blog about me being "gay". None of these rumours were true, but many people unsubbed because of him. Eventually, I had his account deactivated for harassment, and I shut down the blog for good. This by far influenced my view on bronies at the time, but I understand now that it's not everyone. This is one of the main reasons which I was (and sometimes still am) hesitant to call myself a brony.

[Rosewind]

You know, I think Twilight has a rather unhealthy obsession with books...

[SirShadowdeath]

You know, I think Twilight has a rather unhealthy obsession with books...

While funny, this is completely irrelevant to the topic at hand.

[FredericHorseshoepin]

Obsession is a double-edged sword. Studying music in college, you learn that most classical composers are actually very unhealthy people with very unhealthy obsession of music. Beethovan had nothing in his life besides music.

But, while a lot of that seems honorable. Lets take a really good look at some of the great people who had obsessions. Beethovan's father was a drunk who beat him and forced him to learn the piano as hard as he could. You could say that Beethovan's obsession came from the need to escape the world he was in. Of course this is a gross oversimplification of his life but you can see that Beethovan wasn't a happy man and he never really had a childhood.

Obsession has been the reason why people have been propelled to great heights and contributed greatly to society.

Yet, obsession is more often than not, detrimental to one's mental and physical health. Psychology has proven that an unhealthy obsession either came from an unhappy life, or would help the person develop into unhealthy habits.

Basically, I think passion is good. Too many people are apathetic these days. But the ability to keep your passion in check, and to not use obsession as an escape from real life is key in order to have a balanced livelihood.

Most people on the internet, to put it quite bluntly, are immature teenagers who use it as an outlet to express any kind of resentment they have towards their life, their sexuality, or their perceived cultural norms. This is the #1 reason why the over-fixation on porn kinda bothers me a little, cause to me, it's just some lonely teenager unknowingly broadcasting his or her problems. The internet is not suppose to be a place like that. It's suppose to be casual and fun. But when you use it to mentally self-medicate, then that becomes a problem.

Everything in moderation, everything in moderation. Obsessions doesn't annoy me (as a music student it cant), but over-obsession makes me think that there might be something unhappy going on with your life or there might be a psychological complex working somewhere.

[Rosewind]

While funny, this is completely irrelevant to the topic at hand.

Despite the fact I was being facetious, the whole original basis (and plot device of FiM as a series) was based on Twi's obsession with studying and books, over other activities, such as making friends. This is completely relevant to the topic at hand.

[BlackJack]

Despite the fact I was being facetious, the whole original basis (and plot device of FiM as a series) was based on Twi's obsession with studying and books, over other activities, such as making friends. This is completely relevant to the topic at hand.

That's a good point. Really, you could look at any of the characters and say they have too much of an obsession with whatever they do in real life. In "Applebuck Season", Applejack worked too hard, in "Art of the Dress", Rarity was too generous, etc. etc.. They learn their lesson in the end, so in a way, the show is exemplifying and correcting the dangers of over obsession for the new generation. I think as long as you're not encroaching on anyone else's personal boundaries or securities, obsession, and even over obsession in the right circumstance is ok. As long as it's handled appropriately.

[3arlGrey]

That's a good point. Really, you could look at any of the characters and say they have too much of an obsession with whatever they do in real life. In "Applebuck Season", Applejack worked too hard, in "Art of the Dress", Rarity was too generous, etc. etc.. They learn their lesson in the end, so in a way, the show is exemplifying and correcting the dangers of over obsession for the new generation. I think as long as you're not encroaching on anyone else's personal boundaries or securities, obsession, and even over obsession in the right circumstance is ok. As long as it's handled appropriately.

Which is, more often than not, an issue that we and others, as users of the internet, have a difficult time maintaining. But hey, we're not ponies.

[SirShadowdeath]

Which is, more often than not, an issue that we and others, as users of the internet, have a difficult time maintaining. But hey, we're not ponies.

Imagine how much easier life would be as a pony in ponyville. Lol, just kidding. I know what life is, and I know there's no way to avoid reality. Sometimes, I wish there was though.

[3arlGrey]

Imagine how much easier life would be as a pony in ponyville. Lol, just kidding. I know what life is, and I know there's no way to avoid reality. Sometimes, I wish there was though.

Ponyville, where your biggest problems include chocolate rain and eternal night.

[SirShadowdeath]

Ponyville, where your biggest problems include chocolate rain and eternal night.

Aww man, that's just terrible. How could I possibly survive living through eternal night and chocolate rain instead if facing the hatred and depressing truth of society and what it's become? Man, I don't know which problems I'd rather deal with! I'm just joking to make a point of course. Thanks for the comparison, friend.

[Legit101]

Depends on what there obsessed over.

[Starfox64x]

Yeah, i'm scared of getting an unhealthy obsession... I've seen various things about people who are over obsessed with something, and although i say it looks creepy, and that i would never hit that level of obsession... I'm worried that i might develop and unhealthy obsession or habit with anything...

It just find it scary to think that i would think A and naturally do B against my better judgement... Like smoking (I dont smoke, but..) you have those people who say 'smoking is bad for you, it's bad for your health, it's terrible its a waste of money blah blah blah, and then they light up a cigarette... Living that kind of life sounds scary to me...

I dont believe i'm at that point with anything... and i hope i never do, but it worries me that i might.

[Tenkan]

I'm not really sure how to respond to this, since I don't think I've ever really been obsessed with something, thankfully.

But if you ask me, it doesn't scare me at all. I think it's somewhat inevitable for some of us to grow overly attached to something. Of course, that obsession being not the healthiest of things.

[weesh]

I've got an obsessive personality. When I find something new, I was to know everything about it. Fortunately, it wears off after a while. Usually. But I do not always escape unscathed.

You guys may have noticed that I have stayed active, but have been slowing down in my posting. I was obsessing during the Chrismas period when all my activities were on hold, and even into my normal life as the activities started up again. Now I am trying to maintain a healthy amount of concentration on this enjoyable site.

I consider it part of who I am. It allows me to focus, to learn rapidly, and to interact well with those who have more experience than I do, but it is also very dangerous, and difficult to control. Does obsession scare me? It is terrifying. Is it always bad? Well not always, but mostly.

It has the potential to draw huge amounts of time from me, and prevent me from going out to do new things or from maintaining my meaningful relationships. The fact that I have seen it mess me up multiple times mean it is easier to see the warning signs, and even predict that it is coming, but it can still sweep me up in it.

Depends on what there obsessed over.

It is difficult to think of something that could be healthy to obsess over the long term. Do you have anything in mind?

[Firebolt]

I've got an obsessive personality. When I find something new, I was to know everything about it. Fortunately, it wears off after a while. Usually. But I do not always escape unscathed.

You guys may have noticed that I have stayed active, but have been slowing down in my posting. I was obsessing during the Chrismas period when all my activities were on hold, and even into my normal life as the activities started up again. Now I am trying to maintain a healthy amount of concentration on this enjoyable site.

I consider it part of who I am. It allows me to focus, to learn rapidly, and to interact well with those who have more experience than I do, but it is also very dangerous, and difficult to control. Does obsession scare me? It is terrifying. Is it always bad? Well not always, but mostly.

It has the potential to draw huge amounts of time from me, and prevent me from going out to do new things or from maintaining my meaningful relationships. The fact that I have seen it mess me up multiple times mean it is easier to see the warning signs, and even predict that it is coming, but it can still sweep me up in it.

It is difficult to think of something that could be healthy to obsess over the long term. Do you have anything in mind?

I call it the Mad Scientist Disease. I have it too.

[FrankT]

Yes, my obsession scares me! I doubt if I can even call myself a Brony, looking at the things I've done in the past!

[Incantatious]

It's hard to know how to respond. Obsessions can take over somebodies life and cause a ton of problems, so I'd say it's bad if it disrupts the persons life.

Although I think it's hard to tell over the internet if someone has "problems" as such... I don't know. It's hard to tell if someone has an obsession over the internet unless they either display the 'symptoms' of obsession, or actually say they do...

I am SO curious as to what it was you saw...

[Guest EoLPinkie]

Not scared of it, scared of what ponies do with it

[Doc Hoof MD]

I don’t know if this counts but I used to be on a Halo 3 team about 2 years ago. There were 7 of us, 4 starters and 3 backups. We used to spend most of our time outside of school and sports on it practicing and competing. We did very well but we just never made it past local tournaments. There was one member that started to become obsessed with the game and the whole MLG thing. Let’s call him Herp.

Herp would stay up through the night on school weeks just to play Halo. He was really into the game. He was into being the best(Not sure how to describe it). Anyways, one day we were all playing on LAN(before they banned it) and we were playing a SUPER close game. We lost the series 2-3. Herp grabbed a super valuable vase from his mantle and threw it at the television. It scared us quite a lot. He even picked up a bat and threatened us saying that we didn’t do enough to win. We all removed him from the team and eventually stopped playing all together.

Herp went on to drop out of school just to play the damn game. I never heard much of him after that. Obsession can be a very scary thing.

[patchcore]

I don’t know if this counts but I used to be on a Halo 3 team about 2 years ago. There were 7 of us, 4 starters and 3 backups. We used to spend most of our time outside of school and sports on it practicing and competing. We did very well but we just never made it past local tournaments. There was one member that started to become obsessed with the game and the whole MLG thing. Let’s call him Herp.

Herp would stay up through the night on school weeks just to play Halo. He was really into the game. He was into being the best(Not sure how to describe it). Anyways, one day we were all playing on LAN(before they banned it) and we were playing a SUPER close game. We lost the series 2-3. Herp grabbed a super valuable vase from his mantle and threw it at the television. It scared us quite a lot. He even picked up a bat and threatened us saying that we didn’t do enough to win. We all removed him from the team and eventually stopped playing all together.

Herp went on to drop out of school just to play the damn game. I never heard much of him after that. Obsession can be a very scary thing.

That's terrifying. I've always been afraid of over-obsession, for reasons just like that. But then, there seems to be multiple levels of obsession. At it's lowest form, obsession with something you really enjoy can make you a happier person. That is, when it doesn't cut terribly into your life. When you start avoiding things you would normally do just to feed your obsession, that's where it gets scary. But, with a reasonable level of it, it might actually make you a healthier person.

[StarletDawn]

I'm scared of obsession. I'm obsessed, too. Obsessed to a point where I don't want to talk at school... or anywhere for that matter (me the shy person... I don't post on here much because of it too.)

I don’t know if this counts but I used to be on a Halo 3 team about 2 years ago. There were 7 of us, 4 starters and 3 backups. We used to spend most of our time outside of school and sports on it practicing and competing. We did very well but we just never made it past local tournaments. There was one member that started to become obsessed with the game and the whole MLG thing. Let’s call him Herp.

Herp would stay up through the night on school weeks just to play Halo. He was really into the game. He was into being the best(Not sure how to describe it). Anyways, one day we were all playing on LAN(before they banned it) and we were playing a SUPER close game. We lost the series 2-3. Herp grabbed a super valuable vase from his mantle and threw it at the television. It scared us quite a lot. He even picked up a bat and threatened us saying that we didn’t do enough to win. We all removed him from the team and eventually stopped playing all together.

Herp went on to drop out of school just to play the damn game. I never heard much of him after that. Obsession can be a very scary thing.

Now that.... that is just scary. My brothers like that too, except he expresses it by screaming at the game and crying. But don't worry, I don't think he's obsessed... at least I hope he isn't

[SirShadowdeath]

That's quite a story...