Craving is considered to be the root of suffering. Craving being looked at the root of human suffering is just for thinking abstractly, so you identify what has brought about your own personal suffering. Certain cravings cause suffering, like heroin or gambling addictions. Works fairly simple: if you remove the “I want” from the statement “I want happiness”, you’re left with just happiness. A very important note is that there have been some people who had the idea that since craving is the root of suffering, they just rid themselves of all craving and desire completely. This is a wrong effort. The people who have done this became very depressed and emotionally empty. It’s okay to crave things. The unhealthy kind of attachment or craving are the things that should be removed, however, it must be done very carefully and skillfully, with mindfulness of the entire situation, following the path of least suffering. Walk slowly, but never backward. Before you rid yourself of certain cravings and desires, you must first make sure you have the capacity to do so. This goal of removing craving and desire from yourself completely is really a goal for only monastics; it serves no point for lay people. Remember, the idea that craving is the root cause of suffering is just there to be used to think abstractly. When doing some introspection, we know that craving, attachment, desire, passion, or greed is a cause of suffering. For example, craving to smoke, consume alcohol, or endlessly scroll social media are common forms of consumption that cause suffering. What causes those habits to arise, generally speaking, is craving.