We are all in search of dopamine – the chemical messenger that brings us pleasure. When you smoke a cigarette, take a bite of candy, or hug a loved one, the nerve cells in your brain reward you with some happiness. We live in an increasingly dopamine-centric world. With technological innovations and the rise of social media, companies are profiting off the dopamine market. A like on your post is a dopamine hit. An Instagram reel with a funny joke is a dopamine hit.
Another way to describe this is the attention economy. While social media is technically a free service, the advertising on these platforms is what allows them to generate revenue. The more you engage with a certain type of content, the more the algorithm will show that content to you. They also collect data based on your interests to use targeted marketing. As more and more likable content is pushed toward us, we become more dependent on social media for our dopamine. Because of this, we see behaviors like doomscrolling – the act of scrolling on a social media app, usually TikTok or Instagram, for a prolonged period of time. As people have become self-aware of the time they waste on social media, a new counter-culture to doomscrolling is on the rise. People have decided to get off their phones.
One aspect of the getting-off-your-phone trend is the “hobbymaxxing” movement. Across social media platforms, individuals are posting various hobbies they participate in and are learning. This trend directly opposes the culture of doomscrolling on your phone. Chasing dopamine through activities other than their phones, people have been hiking, bedazzling, and learning new skills. I, for one, decided to pick up DJing after taking a look at my screen time. This trend is all about doing something valuable with your time rather than wasting it away in front of your screen. Picking up a new skill or spending your time outside is seen as much more beneficial to your life.
It’s much more fulfilling to recount the time you learned to ride a horse than the three hours you spent watching TikTok. It’s the difference between increasing your own life experience versus watching other people experience life. It’s the realization of how beautiful the life we are given is and how limited our time here on earth is that makes us want to allocate time to more meaningful activities. We want to experience this world while we can.
Oftentimes, these meaningful experiences are associated with our connection to Mother Earth. Connecting with nature is, in many ways, the opposite of social media, as technology is entirely man-made. Hiking, spending prolonged periods of time in nature, and camping are on the rise. People simply want to be outside and enjoy themselves. There’s a certain health aspect to this as well. There’s a general feeling that touching your bare feet to the raw earth, be it soil or sand, can improve your physical well-being. Psychologically, spending time in nature can feel grounding and gratitude-inducing.
Additionally, physical exercise, such as walking and hiking, that comes along with being in nature is beneficial to your health. Staying on your phone is associated with poor health from both a physical and psychological standpoint. Staring at a screen is bad for your eyesight. Spending long periods of time on your phone is associated with poor physical health and a sedentary lifestyle. Therefore, getting off your phone is seen as beneficial to your health.
Because of the dopamine-centric aspect of social media, it can lead to an addiction that can be detrimental to your well-being and life. Meta and Google have faced lawsuits and criticism alleging that their platforms contribute to addictive user behavior. YouTube, Instagram, and many more social media applications target young, impressionable minds to create addiction and guarantee future customers. With this in mind, innovators have started to create anti-social media apps that help users with their addiction.
There are multiple applications that attempt to replace the dopamine rewards associated with social media by rewarding users for staying off their phones, sort of like how a nicotine patch works for cigarette addiction. For instance, Hold is an app that rewards students with points for not using their phone for certain periods of time. These points can be traded for real-world items, and so earning them supplies your brain with the necessary dopamine to overcome an addiction.
In the end, taking control of your need for dopamine and discovering new ways to get your kick are what will help you to get off your phone. The chase for dopamine is a never-ending cycle, but there are positive ways to stay in the race. Go outside. Experience life. Make your time here worth your while.