nerd beef
I hate - HATE - the popular science understanding of dopamine. every time i read an article about dopamine addiction i die a little inside. Every time I see a tech bro video about dopamine addiction i die a little inside. i knew i was going to hate reading this before clicking on it but i did it anyway (which is actually a result of dopamine, ironically)
There’s no way that this article is not AI slop by the way it’s written, which is even more depressing
reads like every other popsci article about dopamine tbh, just with some actual citations (which themselves are fine but are a terribly narrow selection of very over-technical articles that I feel the author misinterprets)
Exercise is one of the most effective methods for boosting dopamine naturally. Physical activities such as walking, running, cycling, or even dancing can trigger the release of dopamine, leading to improved mood and greater motivation.
never worked for me. i just feel like shit
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22674921/
According to this study, exercise had little to no effect on relieving symptoms in people with depression and while it made the participants healthier due to increased physical activity, it did nothing with regards to improving mood, at least in this particular sample. There’s also the case that if you have a chemical imbalance causing your depression or mood disorder (such as with pituitary gland and other hormonal disorders) or certain genetic predispositions, it may mean that your body can’t produce enough dopamine or other endorphins naturally anyway, so exercise is just going to make you feel tired and sore but with none of the ‘runner’s high’ effects.
I hate exercising for this reason, but obviously I still do it to keep my body healthy (or at least as healthy as it can be).
The idea of ‘dopamine addiction’ is just PopSci bullshit though. The reason we’re ‘addicted’ to our phones is because of alienation in late-stage capitalist society leading to us trying to find some semblance of enjoyment or control over our own lives.
yeah i never had that, fucking track practice was the most boring miserable shit ever second only to the whole school day.
Almost 200 a miles a week on my bike and I’m still a phone addict, what givescause using your phone is an extremely familiar action that you know is always going to be at least somewhat entertaining. the dopamine levels just encode your brain’s confidence about it youre not actually addicted to the dopamine
My takeaway from this comment is that I need to start building in an aversive stimulus like rigging my phone case to deliver a mild electrical shock any time I turn the screen on.
i enlisted the help of a little magical gnome that kicks me in the gnards when he sees me overusing my phone
Oh, nice. Did you go through a recruitment agency or is there some sort of ritual you can use?
oh no he just showed up one day and started kicking me i dont really understand why but we managed to come to an agreement
He seems surprisingly reasonable despite the penchant for abrupt and unprompted violence
A gnard-kicking gnome is definitely a Pratchett character.
“Ha, phone addicts. Pathetic,” I chortle as I sip my caffeine-laced fizzy drink and get sleepy from watching the flashy lights in Vampire Survivors.
