Up until about two years ago, I’d never used the word dopamine in my life. Now, I make reference to dopamine hits daily, aware of my own addiction to its damn release. Never-ending social media notifications, engaging content and readily available entertainment options has created this culture. The constant stimulation surrounding our lives has become so saturated that it takes strength and willpower to escape it.
It’s been on the horizon for longer than we’d like to believe. Planted into our subconscious. Stories, comics and movies have been telling us that ‘tech’ is the villain for decades. From animation like The Incredibles to superhero franchises such as Spiderman and even true story dramas like The Dropout starring Amanda Seyfried as Elizabeth Holmes, the greedy tech giant always wants to dominate the world and doesn’t care who suffers the consequences. And yet, here we are in the real world, addicted to the products and using them for easy hits of dopamine as our mental health spirals.
So what is dopamine culture?
In short, it’s the desire for short-burst stimulation and positive reinforcement. It’s craving immediate gratification and experiences that deliver a quick emotional payoff. Addiction expert Dr Anna Lembke calls the smartphone the “modern-day hypodermic needle” in her book, Dopamine Nation, emphasising that we are now all addicts to a degree. We turn to our devices for quick hits, seek-ing attention, validation and distraction with each swipe and like. Every waking moment is an opportunity to be stimulated. Dare to tap onto TikTok and you’ll lose oodles of precious time, in the same way you feel empty after scrolling Instagram yet couldn’t help immersing yourself into the screen in the first place. Dating is forever changed by swiping through Tinder, careers are dictated by LinkedIn and e-shopping has killed the high street. Our fingers are working faster than our brains can cope, and when our head catches up to our heart, it’s beating with intense anxiety. If only we could stop this train and get off…
But it’s fun, isn't it? In the moment.
So we do it again. And again.
No surprises, but this has consequences. The data continues to show that society is less happy now than before the digital age. According to a World Happiness Report, people in high-income countries have become more unhappy over the past decade or so. Could this be because we never give ourselves time to sit with our thoughts anymore? Have we forgotten how to be alone? The constant distraction has created a big fear of suddenly having nothing to do and nobody to do it with. As Lembke says, “We’re forever interrupting ourselves” for a quick hit of the old dopamine. And the re-sult? We find it impossible to get stuff done.
You might find you have a reduced tolerance for passive experiences. Nobody ever enjoyed waiting in line or joining a queue, but we used to do it without the need to look at our phones. Sometimes we even struck up a conversation with those around us, but I guess the introverts are relieved in the lack of that these days. The desire to find immediate engagement in every waking moment has become the norm. Dopamine culture is something we’ve grown accustomed to. In the hope of feeling awesome for a fleeting moment, you check for likes, comments, messages, comedy reels, and listen to podcast clips that suddenly make you feel seen. Yes, your phone is listening to you. Lembke says, “We’re seeing a huge explosion in the numbers of people struggling with minor addictions.”
Dopamine is a chemical, sometimes referred to as the feel-good hormone. But rather than giving us pleasure, dopamine motivates us to do the things we think will bring pleasure. It’s what makes us want a pizza when we’re hungry or chocolate during that afternoon slump. The higher the dopamine release, the more addictive the thing, and the endlessness of digital distraction contributes to this. If you’re addicted to a drug, you might eventually run out of money to buy it. But hey, the ‘gram is all free baby! And with every high, there’s always a low. After the release, we experience a comedown or dopamine dip so we eat more pizza, have another piece of chocolate, watch the next episode or scroll to the next reel.
All of this stimuli allows us the freedom to boost our mood in a heartbeat. But the old world worked in the opposite way. When we read a book - become absorbed in a book without checking notifications - we reap the rewards afterwards. We have experienced new surroundings in our minds, perhaps learnt something. Going for a run never used to come with selfies for proof (and likes) but we just felt good for doing it. Talking to a friend, or even a stranger, with eye contact and without rush can feed the soul, a feeling that lasts much longer than a hit of dopamine. Baking, yoga, taking a bath, going for a walk, just breathing… the feel-good comes after the experience. Sure, it’s a doddle to just grab your phone for pleasure, but doing something that includes a form of challenge will bring the enduring kind.
Some say that dopamine culture has led to a rise in shorter attention spans. But its always been around, it’s not a new chemical. Talia N. Lerner, assistant professor of neuroscience at Northwestern University says, “It (dopamine) teaches your brain how to predict your needs and try to align your behaviours with those needs.” This may sound sinister, but pursuing rewards isn’t always a problem depending on the context. Animals from honeybees to humans developed dopamine systems to motivate them to seek out food and sex in order to survive and procreate. “It’s an important part of why we’re here today,” says Kent C. Berridge, professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of Michigan. “We wouldn’t have evolved and we wouldn’t have survived, our ancestors, without do-pamine.”
But once upon a time, looking at a beautiful painting might have given us a hit of dopamine. Now, it’s the smartphone and its many, many apps, ruling over us for the best part of a decade. Surely it’s time to slow down. I want to say that it’s our responsibility to at least try. Millennials are the last generation to remember life before social media. TikTok users share this thought all the time, ironical-ly. Bring back the Walkman! Kids playing in the street! Stress-free existence! Although this is some-thing we’re all talking about - and wishing for - it’s not easy to find the motivation to execute it. And I guess that is addiction.
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