Justifiability
For those keeping score of which secret is worse to keep, online gaming addiction has leaped ahead of online porning addiction. At least that is the scoring system proposed by Dr. Jerald Block, who claims (via the Boston Globe via Escapist Magazine):
"People feel a lot of shame around computer games. Whereas, it's socially acceptable to have a porn problem. ...As a society, we understand that porn is something people do, and you can see a psychiatrist and get treated for it," he said. "But gaming is hard to describe to anyone else. So these people can't explain their situation to friends."
Apparently, tthe need to keep a secret all depends on whether or not you can explain (i.e., justify) yourself. And, in sync, the desire to pry out the secret -- the level of emotion one takes in its revealing -- depends, too, on its justifiability.
