Gotta do the Sudoku

A month or so ago is when I first heard of Sudoku. My mother-in-law apparently had found an on line source for free Sudoku puzzles (www.websudoku.com/). She printed out a couple and gave them to Karen to try. Karen enjoyed the puzzles and introduced them to the rest of us. Tyler, in particular, loves puzzles and logic problems. He did a few but it did not hold his interest. I on the other hand, have found them quite addicting.

A couple of weeks after our first encounter with Sudoku, the Raleigh news paper, The Raleigh News and Observer, started running daily Sudoku puzzles. I would run out and get the paper, make a quick copy for Karen and I, then I work the puzzle while eating breakfast. I had to stop that practice because It keeps me from getting Michelle and I out the door in a timely fashion on school mornings. But Karen still makes copies a couple of times a week from the paper. And I pull one up now and then when I need a break at work.

Like most any puzzle, Sudoku comes in various challenge levels. The easy Sudoku require some logic and patience but I can generally finish one in 10ish minutes.

medium puzzles can take me 30+ minutes. While I have I completed one or two of the "hard" level puzzles, I have this one puzzle printed out at home that I have restarted at least 10 times due to errors. Once an error is found it is darn near impossible to correct it without completely starting over. The problem is once you figure you have a number placed correctly, it influences where other numbers can be placed. Those, in turn influence other numbers.... It is maddening.

When I indicated I found the puzzles addicting. I did not mean it in a literal sense. But it did make me think. Why do folks put themselves through such torture? There are endless stories in the papers or on the internet of people who get obsessed with doing crosswords, playing computer games etc.. It is a pretty well documented phenomena in our culture. Can puzzles and games be truly addicting?

First let me preface my theories with "I have no background in psychology." My thoughts are really based on observations made over the years and applying logic, perhaps flawed logic, but my logic, to these observations.

You can debate about how much physiology vs. psychology influences additive behavior. Without any statistics, or years of schooling to base it on, it is my contention that addiction is not a disease but a learned behavior. With that said, I do agree that physiology does play a role in addiction in as much all human functions do. I support the idea that certain physiological conditions, inherited or developed, can pre-dispose an individual to addictive behavior. But I believe all but the most psychotic addictions are learned.

I guess I should backup and define what "addiction" is, at least for the sake of this discussion. Generally speaking, an addiction is a condition where a consistent desire or perceived need for specific external stimuli becomes paramount in the mind of the afflicted, overriding what is considered to be normal or healthy behavior. The "normal or healthy behavior, I understand, is rather grey and subjective at best. But we gotta have a yardstick somewhere right?

Now I realize there are chemical addictions. These are real physical/physiological addictions where the body's chemistry is altered significantly by the consistent exposure to alcohol, drugs, tobacco etc.. It is conceivable to me that even non-chemical related behaviors can, overtime, result in body chemistry changes or imbalances. With that said, I am going to discount, or at least ignore these types of addictions for this discussion because it is my contention that it was the physiological addition or repeated behavior that lead to the chemical addiction conditions.

So addiction, in context of this discussion, is a learned behavior.

You take a drink for the first time, maybe out peer pressure, maybe out of curiosity.... What ever the reason, assuming it was a pleasurable experience on some level, socially, physically or both, you are likely to repeat the action at some point. The consistent positive experience becomes associated with a specific action or behavior. The stronger this association becomes the more likely you are to repeat the behavior. At what point does cycle this become an addiction? I am stepping way outside my area here but it becomes an addiction when the behavior becomes a persons primary form of positive stimuli. Even still, except for the most psychotic of cases, it is a individual conscious decision to continue the behavior and ignore what ever the consequences may be.

It is Natural, even vital, that people, animals and plants for that matter, tend to migrate toward the positive and away from the negative. This fact is key to the survival of any species. Just look at reproduction.

Before I get to far down this slippery slope, lets get back to puzzle addition. As I stated I enjoy these puzzles but am not in any way addicted to them. "I can quit any time I want". But I do gain a positive feeling when I complete a Sudoki puzzle. Even the eazy puzzles. Like most types of puzzles, Sudoku are designed to make you look at things from different viewpoints. It combines simple logic and 3 dimentional thinking. I am guessing my pleasure in completing a Sudoku comes from my desire and enjoyment of "feeling smart". Completing the puzzles, even the easy ones, reinforce that feeling. Perhaps I have self esteem issues but that is an issue for another day ;-)

Most anything can become subject of an addiction, or obsession, (There is a difference there I am sure but I won't take the time to investigate that here) Food, Drugs, sports, puzzles, work. Anything that has a positive physical or psychological affect on an individual can be addictive. If I were to, in completely overly simply terms, prescribe a prevention for addictive behavior, I would say that a balanced lifestyle is key; A lifestyle where positive feelings, physical and emotional, come from a variety of sources (I am not making a case for polygamy here honest) and no one activity dominates as source of positive stimuli for extended periods of time.

Ok enough with the armchair physiologist.

Other free internet puzzle sites:
http://www.free-online-word-search-puzzles.com/

A couple of interesting articles on addiction. I found after writing most of the above ramblings:
http://www.bbsonline.org/Preprints/OldArchive/bbs.heyman.html
http://motivationalinterview.org/clinical/motmodel.html