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Has dopamine got us hooked on tech?
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Dopamine: The Brain Chemical Of Desire
- Discovered in 1957, Dopamine is one of 20 major neurotransmitters, brain chemicals that communicate between nerves and cells.
- In the 50s the chemical was associated with physical movement, which changed 30 years later when new experiments proved it to be associated with mental stimulation, addiction, desire, sex drive and ambition.
- Dopamine is crucial for movement control, memory, mood, cognitive activity, sleep and attention.
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Dopamine: The Celebrity Molecule
Companies, advertising agencies and tech giants slowly realized the power of dopamine.
Tech companies which already rely on persuasion lapped up this ‘sex, drugs and rock’n’roll’ molecule, essentially hacking the human mind after learning about its basic vulnerability, using the knowledge to increase the rate at which people use their services.
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Persuasive Technology: Irregularly Timed Rewards
If a reward is provided on a regular basis, the brain takes the same as a given, but if the same reward is irregular, the brain is primed to check again and again about the same. This is the same technique that is used in slot machines at gambling casinos.
Social media has been tremendously successful as it has been able to exploit this desire and addiction towards social affirmation, with random, irregular rewards.
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Key Ideas
The reward system
The reward system in our brain exists to ensure we seek out what we need. If eating nutritious food or being smiled at pleases us, we try to secure more of these stimuli. However, seeking pleasure ...
Desire and pleasure
In 1986, a discovery was made that dopamine did not produce pleasure, but in fact, desire. While dopamine makes us want, pleasure comes from opioids and endocannabinoids ( a kind of marijuana produced in the brain), which paints pleasure on good experiences.
Potential clinical application
We cannot explain away our minds by brain mechanisms. Brain mechanisms are part of our minds.
Understanding that desire and dread, for instance, share the same brain operations, could help ease schizophrenia symptoms by restricting a particular dopamine neuron that produces fear.
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Why some like learning something new
If you get excited by the possibility of learning something new and complex, and you get intrigued by nuance and imaginative scenarios you may have an influx of dopamine in your synapses.
D...
Finding your reward in information
Much research on dopamine has been done about its role to desire an "appetitive" reward, such as chocolate, social attention, or gambling. However, people who score high in the tendency toward exploration are prone to find their reward in information, not so much in money or drugs.
If some or all of these statements describe you, you may be highly sensitive to the reward value of information:
- I love spending time reflecting on things.
- I am full of ideas.
- I have a vivid imagination.
- I am interested in abstract ideas.
- I am curious about many different things.
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Rewards and dopamine
Our brains compute 3 things about reward: how much will we get, how soon will we get it, and how certain are we that we will in fact get it.
And it’s when the probability of a re...
Why video games are so addictive
Games are enticing because you might win but you might not. And video games do it so efficiently, because they ride the tide of computer technology. The balance between winning and losing is continuously adjusted, according to how well you’re doing, as measured in hits and misses, gains and losses, moment by moment. The sweet spot knows you, it finds you. It adjusts to you.