10 Times Star Trek Depicted Addiction

The Star Trek: The Next Generation episode Hollow Pursuits introduces Reginald 'Reg' Barclay. Conceived by Gene Roddenberry as a relatable everyman, Barclay is the opposite of The Next Generation's main cast. Although he's a capable engineer, his nervousness, shyness, and neuroses keep him from integrating with the crew.

Barclay's engineering colleagues don't make it easy for him. Geordi LaForge finds him frustrating. The other engineers make fun of him, use Wesley Crusher's derogatory nickname for him, and Wesley talks over him at meetings.  

Barclay takes refuge in the holodeck where he can play the hyper-competent, charismatic hero who does and says things he can't in real life. He also casts Troi as either an adoring love interest or a goddess of empathy and Dr. Crusher as a supportive mother figure.

The holodeck is really an advanced form of virtual reality (VR). According to Professor Rui Chin of the Communication University of China, VR's immersive quality makes it 44 percent more addictive than PC content. In his opinion, it is possible that VR users could prefer the virtual world to the real one.

Barclay does eventually admit to Geordi that he's more comfortable in the holodeck. Unfortunately,  his overuse of the holodeck has affected him like an addiction, especially at work. He shows up late, frequently ends up on report for not working to the best of his ability, and ends up with an 'unsatisfactory' rating on his work evaluation. 

Professor Chin believes that a combination of technology that allows users to control the duration of their VR experiences and user awareness of the objective existence of VR would help combat VR addiction. 

Encouragement from Geordi and Troi and success in solving a tech problem plaguing the ship helps Barclay break his addiction and delete his fantasies.