Dopamine addiction

Came across this article and thought it may be interesting and worth reading for the TMS crowd:

https://www.theguardian.com/global/2021/aug/22/how-digital-media-turned-us-all-into-dopamine-addicts-and-what-we-can-do-to-break-the-cycle (Constant craving: how digital media turned us all into dopamine addicts)

 

From the article: "We’re losing our capacity to delay gratification, solve problems"

This is so bad for relationship building. Deep, meaningful relationships are not instant gratification. It is sacrificing your time and energy for someone else and the joy and feeling of meaning it brings takes time!

Thanks for bringing this up in a post.

 

This is also about dopamine addiction, see bellow. Very interesting.

 

Good article and podcast. Thanks, TG957 and Sita for posting. I first learned of Anna Lembke when I watched The Social Dilemma, also worth checking out, on Netflix. I would like to read Dopamine Nation but it will have to join a very long list of books waiting to be read.

 

@Sita thanks for the video link, I watched the whole thing!

 

You are welcome. It is really good. Was helpful for me. Social Dilemma was pretty good too, a little bit dark in the beginning but better at the end. I recommend it.

 

I don't own one. I see the problems, social and otherwise it creates for the young people around me and in the life of my sometimes girlfriends. I feel like the only person in the world who doesn't, but I don't mind because I have plenty of other things I can do (play guitar, hit baseballs, workout, play with my dog,etc.) I actually feel BAD for people who do that crap....like they are missing their life.....it's like playing an elaborate video game. One day the game will be over and they will say "Oh shit... I missed REALLY living."

In context of TMS, I have had really fast healing .I continue to heal fast from any relapses. I get asked a lot what I do when I get TMS, but I think whats more important is what I don't do....don't have a smartphone, don't own a TV and don't do social media or the news..... gee....why is that B-tard so happy?

I don't rent space out in my head cheaply. If I really wanted to get 'high' I would go and buy drugs. They are way less addictive and cause less problems.

This is a GREAT topic.

 

This is impressive, I fully understand this choice and you should be proud. I´m not quite at the point, but I have taken important steps. I have disable all notifications on my Smart-phone so I don't get that buzz/ding Dopamine hit. I actively have to open an app if I do something. I rarely watch news because its so negative.

 

Good Lord! The gal I am currently dating hung out here the last day. This post illuminated a lot.

I guess this is a 'control freak' thing, but I have zero patience for people with their noses in their phone. I believe 'Phubbed' or 'Fubbed' is the vernacular term? When someone has to check their phone constantly and ignores (snubs...rude) the people around them.?

If I am with somebody and they start that crap, I am late for the door. If we're on a date and she starts checking, the date is over. If I was on the fence about hanging out with the person, that pushes me into "I'd rather be alone and not pretending".
So she usually turns it off, as a dozen quickly ended dates has shown her. This morning when she turned it on about a hundred of those freaking 'dings' came in.... she had to retreat to my backyard to check them all..gotta get her fix...and I took her home about 15 minutes later.

I don't have a lot of girlfriends and that is probably one of the biggest reasons. It's really a cult of narcissism. "I am so important...look at all of this stuff I have to keep up with!". Truth is, if you turned it off, NONE of that stuff is important.

I see people at concerts filming the concert with their phone? You paid 200-300 bucks to see an artist and now your F-ing with your phone so you can watch it on a 4" screen later? OH...you mean you want your friends to see how cool you were...that YOU were at the concert, the fancy restaurant, the special place.

A foreign power would have little trouble taking over our society...all they would have to do is let people take selfies in their bamboo cage prison camp....and post it to social media. Hell, they'd walk themselves into prison...I know because they already have.

 

Almost the same here.

I do have a tv set but no cable tv. I got rid of it in 2012. I do have Roku and sometimes watch light stuff on youtube on my tv screen.

No watching the news for me since January this year. Never twitter, instagram, no apps on my smartphone. I had a clap phone until 2019. I was very content with it and used it only for phone calls and texts. Everybody used to make so much fun of me with my old antique, my old clap phone. They said it was hilarious. I couldn't care less.

Then my husband got me a smart phone (I said no need for it) just because the smart phone had internet, was cheaper that the clap phone - the monthly bill, and we had some problems with internet connection at home at one point.

I do have Facebook but I used it maybe once a week or something like that to see if I have any new messages from my friends. No pictures there with me or my family, pets or food, nothing like that. I'm a very private person and I prefer to rather talk to my family and friends using skype, phone or e-mail.

Also, I am engaged in tons of hobbies, working on my creations, working a lot with my hands. Mostly in silence. I read a lot, exercise, go out in nature, make jewelry, espadrilles, rugs, bags, paint, draw, study/teach new languages, cook and experiment with food, and have long daily grooming sessions for my cat. She has a 24/7 private spa at home...we like to say. Ha ha.

I only write on this forum and another one but not daily. After watching "The Social Dilemma" I decided to drastically cut my time spend online even more. As Baseball65 said, I want to keep the space in my head as calm and relaxed as possible.

Take care.

 

Well that is completely normal. Dopamine addiction (drugs or smartphone buzz or gambling or whatever) is a selfish behavior and you don't need anyone to get the high. If you are operating as a normal human being you need to bond with others in real life to feel good, which we are designed to do. Off course you get irritated when someone who is supposed to give you that instead choose selfish Dopamine hits constantly. I do too.

We are starting to have a large part of the young population as Dopamine addicts (or close to it) due to the Smart-phone social media and online gaming with computers. Which eventually leads to being unable to form deep, meaningful connections in real life...

 

Good for you =)
I have difficulties finding the time for hobbies between work and having small kid and one more on the way. That reminds me, have to journal about my inner rage of not having enough time for myself right now ^^ weekly hehe...

 

Thanks very much indeed for posting up that Anna Lembke video, @Sita. I've been addicted to food since I was about 6 years old (I had a narcissistic mother and a distant father - my upbringing was extremely difficult). I eventually learned to control my addiction (about 90% control it) by not eating gluten containing foods as they are the main foods that trigger my addiction -- Until I saw the video and then read the article that @TG957 posted (thanks, @TG957!) I didn't realise that by doing this I've been employing a technique called 'self-binding'. I'm going to read her book to see what else she suggests that might further help me with my addiction to food/dopamine, which I have no doubt is bound up with my TMS. Cheers!

P.S. For anyone who's interested, this is a Q&A podcast with Lembke that's a bit shorter than the video https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/medical-director-of-addictive-medicine-at-stanford-university-dr-anna-lembke-on-dopamine-nation-finding-balance-in-the-age-of-indulgence/ (Medical Director of Addictive Medicine at Stanford University, Dr. Anna Lembke on ”Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence”).

 

That's because you are/want to be a good father. It's harder to be a good father and find time for hobbies. Maybe later you can engage the children in sports or something else (one of your hobbies) and solve this problem.

Just an idea.

 

Good for you! I think you're right. I don't eat gluten either, in general. But sometimes when I do have something with gluten, I'm more hungry the rest of the day. It's weird.

I'm working now on limiting my time spend daily on electronics/online. Doing my best to unplug after 5 pm. I'm also going to chose a day a week without any electronics. Like a fasting day for the brain. Probably Sundays. It's harder than I thought all this ... unplugging ...

Thanks for the podcast.

Take care.