Photo via Pickpik
The human brain is a machine that is fine-tuned both to calculate and handle problems and to absorb the world around it. Our brains like solving problems and, in doing so, will search for stimulation the fastest way it can. The brain is then rewarded upon the completion of each task with dopamine.
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that produces pleasure in the brain. Whenever you do an activity that you enjoy, whether it is listening to music, watching television or eating delicious food, your brain releases dopamine. Dopamine has been linked to Parkinson’s disease as it develops due to a lack of dopamine. However, research in the 1980s brought to light the major function of dopamine as affecting the brain’s reward system.
One of the major conveniences of the information age is that now all our brain’s dopamine is just a click away. Whether in the form of a text message, social media or winning a video game, humans now use their dopamine receptors more than ever before. However, while this might sound great in theory, the reality is that too much of a good thing is harmful.
Any student will be able to recall a time when they could not study for an exam or write a paper because they were too distracted. Perhaps for some students, this is a consistent occurrence, and this could even be happening in their life outside of school. It is not an unusual problem for young people today to have short attention spans. There have now been two generations that have been raised on cell phones, video games and social media.
At the risk of sounding like an old man, the instant gratification received from these outlets has caused many to feel dopamine burnout. Plenty of people could probably recall a time when they sat down and tried to focus on something they usually enjoy only to find that their attention span has gone haywire. This generally occurs when the task requires effort, such as playing an instrument, or fixing something around the house. These require the brain to focus and take time to work, which conflicts with the usual easy fix of dopamine it has become accustomed to.
The easy dopamine fix is a concept that Silicon Valley has become all too familiar with, especially with the rise of mobile phone apps and social media. The rush we get every time we see a notification on our phone is not accidental. Phone apps these days are often built with the dopamine reward system in mind. When someone receives a notification for a liked post or a new text, their brain gets rewarded. Tech companies know this and take advantage of it. This is why your phone will blow up with notifications on a daily basis. It is also the reason you probably spend more time on social media than you think.
The average person in 2012 spent roughly 90 minutes on social media. The average person in 2020 spends 144 minutes on social media. The time we spend on social media has been growing over the past decade and this trend is likely to continue. As the number of easy reward distractions grows, there is increasing concern over whether the role they play has grown too large in our daily lives. This is why there is a growing movement around the idea of dopamine detox.
The idea is simple: remove easy access to dopamine for a period of time to give your dopamine receptors time to recharge. Take a break from using your cell phone or listening to music for a day. Some take it very far and abstain from all sources of dopamine for 24 hours. Those who take part say that it helps increase productivity and make it easier for them to focus on the difficult tasks that they want done.
While the act of removing all easy stimuli for a day might be extreme for many, the general idea is something most people should consider. Boredom is something no one enjoys but it is an important part of our daily lives. It gives our brains time to cool down, and most importantly, it gives us time to search for meaningful ways to spend our time.
The next time you are finding yourself unoccupied for a duration of time rather than reaching for your phone for that momentary entertainment, consider simply waiting out that time. It might not seem fun at the time, but in the long run, you might find yourself glad you took the time to appreciate the value of boredom.
Ethan Shaw is a third-year criminal justice major. ES939828@wcupa.edu