I think that as far as newbie tendencies are concerned, this "addiction" with wonders is more or less correct, but this is also true for automating workers, always irrigating or developing all sqaures around a city, always building Swordsmen or requiring Iron (or any resource, really) at the start of any age. Any of these can be considered newbish tendencies and the sooner you get wiser, the better for you.
I, for one, never saw the point in creating Wonders to begin with. I mean, yeah, so you get this ultra great building in your city, but in exchange for what? Lots of units and/or other cities? It never seemed like a good deal to me and I was (and still am) quite loathe to build any wonder that I haven't considered and reconsidered from many points of view. Compared to what you can build, most Wonders are simply not worth it, especially when you consider that you can simply capture the Wonder that you enemy civ just so graciously built for you. To a limited extent, the same can be said of any city improvement. You should only build what is beneficial, and no more.
Diplomacy is often the core of what separates good players from newbies IMO, and this is exemplified in many ways. Learning to always angle for the best possible deal, knowing how to estimate when to renegotiate an ongoing deal and so on. Small details make you faster and stronger.
In the same fashion, newbies will often develop 4 or 5 squares in the capital even when they will eventually 3 Settlers from it anyway, and follow the same pattern with other cities. Even though it is beneficial to develop a spare food square or an emergency produciton square for altenatives during emergencies, using Worker turns in this fashion is just as wasteful and just as newbish as building Wonders ever was, and arguably even more detrimental. If I had any advice to give to newbies, I would say that the following rules will alert newbies to the possibilities much better and more directly than simply "not building Wonders."
1. Never develop a square you don't plan on using.
This immediately alerts newbies to the reality that cities are only as good as the squares they're actually using and also secondarily alerts them to city placement values and specialist usages, as well as tile values and various trait impacts.
2. Never build an improvement that you can't see significant use of in some fashion within the 10 turns after completion.
This tells newbies that improvements are only useful if they're in the right city. If he isn't planning on building units in that city, then he shouldn't be building a Barracks in it, even if he's Militaristic. This also underscores the real value and build priority of things like Libraries and Temples and Marketplaces in different situations. This also teaches newbies to plan improvement completions to the turn and learn to plan for various production change contigencies. If a newbie thinks in 10 turn increments, he will soon learn to coordinate military movement and building timing to a nicety.
2b. Never build a unit you will not use in the 10 turns following its completion. Always consider the viability of 2 or 3 other unit build alternatives.
This is a rule even relatively experienced players can take to heart. This rules teaches the player to always have a justification for building any unit. Even if he intentionally violates the rule because he's planning on a war 20 turns ahead, the rule has still served its purpose as he will always consider which unit to build first and for what specifically. Too many players are locked into the Archer rush or Settler Factory mode or Warrior-Swordsman mode. The ability to use and switch modes to capitalize on a situation is a valuable asset, whatever the age.
3. Always access at least 3 dfferent luxury resources and 2 stratgegic resources in the Ancient Ageas fast as possible.
This teaches newbies the value of these reources. In addition, since looking for these resources often involves roads, exploration and meeting other civs, this teaches newbies the value of contact with other civs and tech trading. Invariably, they will fail to locate an Iron resource within easy reach and this segues into the next guideline.
4. Always visit each embassy twice a turn (once at the start and once at the end) and consider every deal available and possible. Always renegotiate (tinker the offer) for a better deal.
In tandem with guideline 3, this teaches newbies the power of tech trading perforce and will invariably drive them from building the GL, ever. As a new player, I was obsessed with the effect of luxury resources such that I always searched for more and traded for more at the best price. Early use of exploration and diplomacy taught me the questionable value of the GL early on. At the Chieftain to Regent level, as long as you trade techs, the GL is really quite worthless.
In addition, this rule opens players to the often surprising reality that the AI will often accept a deal far inferior to what it initially offers. Even tinkering a gpt deal from 3 gpt to 6 gpt yields you 60 gold, which can be used to upgrade or hurry an improvement. Visiting the Embassy from turn to turn also alerts newbies to the possibilities of forcing a better deal by changing the situation. You can often milk an allied AI for lots more money for a key defensive resource - like Iron or Rubber - if you declare war (and drag them into it) on a civ next to them.
Finally, the negotiating table is often a surprising form of intelligence that will offer itself quite naturally, to experienced and inexperienced players alike. If you're planning war with the Dutch and follow this rule, you will never be surprised by sudden Mercenaries, as the presence of Iron on their City Resource immediately removes that trading offer from your part of the negotiating table.
5. Expose the entire map ASAP.
This opens newbies to the idea that exploration and scouting extend far beyond the simple need to expose all maps. More than the contact and the military info, exposing enemy civ maps tells you what resources they have in what quantity and visiting the Diplomacy and Trade screen often will tell you who's trading what to whom. Keeping tabs on these civs (a natural if you already have RoPs and units in their areas) tells newbies that cities can occasionally cover resources not seen on the map. This is immediately apparent when a newbie sees a Pikeman on a civ that doesn't seem to have Iron, (or any reasonable trading partner for it). Even experienced players are sometimes surprised to find Rail where they don't expect it.
Finally,
6. Never quit a game until you're absolutely, absolutely forced to.
This rule has taught me many amazing things and has accompained me thorugh many incredible turns of fortune. This teaches players how to compensate for not building a favorite Wonder, not having Iron, even not having Coal in the Industrial Age or Rubber or Oil in the Modern Age. It teaches players how to cope when their circumstances invalidate the use of their UU completely, or when all hope seems lost. It is entirely possible to claw your way up from 7th place in the power scale to top tier even in Monarch and Emperior games, from as late as the Industrial Age. You can even survive the loss of your capital and core cities and live on to win the game.
Most of all, this last rule teaches players to fight to the very last Spearman and village, to learn how to fight the Long Defeat, a lesson that has many practical applications in real life.