Tuesday, February 7, 2023

Digital Dopamine

Will anyone look back on their life and think they wished they had spent more time scrolling through the Internet?

By André van Heerden, Communications Director

The other day, I was playing chess with my son. He was taking a break from studying for a test, and I was pleased for a couple of reasons.

One, I like playing with him. Two, playing chess seemed like a really good way to take a break. Much better than just watching videos on YouTube, right?

But why would that be? Both are stimulating. Both are distractions from studying. Both give my son a break.

And what if we were playing ping-pong instead? That too seems like it’s better than scrolling through digital media. But why?

It turns out that one of the reasons that both chess and ping-pong are more beneficial is the addictiveness of being online. Scrolling through digital media stimulates our brains with dopamine—a neurotransmitter that makes us feel as though pleasure is right around the corner but doesn’t lead to pleasure itself.

In her book Dopamine Nation, Dr. Anna Lembke, a world leading expert on addiction, calls the smartphone “the ‘modern-day hypodermic needle’: we turn to it for quick hits, seeking attention, validation, and distraction with each swipe, like, and tweet.”

Which means that the more we scroll through digital media, consuming what we want and skipping what we don’t, the more we’re going to want to keep doing it.

Chris Bailey, an author and speaker on the subject of productivity, calls this scrolling “novelty hunting.” He notes that “novelty hunting is instinctual—and we’re rewarded for doing it on a chemical level. The more novel and surprising an experience, the bigger the dopamine hit, and the more our mind is stimulated. This leads us to becoming less productive and calm—two qualities that move in tandem in an anxious world.”

Could playing chess or ping-pong impact our brains in the same way? No, because they’re not promising something more. They’re stimulating the brain but in a productive way. And there’s something to the old adage that the more you put into something, the more that you get out of it.

With scrolling digital media, you’re not investing anything but your attention and time. But with chess and ping-pong, you have to work at them to get better.

They’re also not luring you into looking for something more. They’re making you concentrate on what you’re currently doing.

Bailey notes that before the digital age, “novelty hunting looked pretty different—it wasn’t fed to us; we had to go out and find it, or better yet, construct novel experiences out of thin air. As bored kids, we’d make a fort out of living room chairs instead of staring at an iPad. As an adult on vacation in a rented cottage, we grabbed a pack of cards to beat the boredom—instead of tapping on our phones to get more dopamine hits.”

Similarly, Dr. Lembke encourages people to avoid the easy path to stimulation and dopamine. Instead, go for a run, talk to a stranger, or read a book. These sorts of activities will make you feel better after you’ve accomplished them—not before.

Lembke writes, “Doing things that are hard is one of the best ways to pursue a life worth living, because the pleasure we get afterwards is more enduring.”

Famous author Robert Louis Stevenson wrote, “Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant.”

There’s a reason that adults today look back at their time and adventures as kids with fondness. They were doing something creative and constructive. They made mistakes and learned from them. They made their own memories and lived their own fun.

Will anyone look back on their life and think they wished they had spent more time scrolling through the Internet?

We should remember these lessons as adults when we’re tempted to disappear into the vortex of Internet surfing. It’s good to take breaks from work, but the breaks should enrich and energize us, not leave us empty and unsatisfied.

Digital Dopamine

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