Definition
It is thanks to dopamine that we experience the drive and motivation to keep ourselves alive. It was originally needed to make us seek out high reward foods and learn rewarding behaviours where effort was required. However, our world now has an abundance of dopamine sources that didn’t exist in caveman times. In particular, says Phillips, smart phones have completely distorted our relationship with dopamine.
“We have a device in our hand that’s constantly training us to be discontent with life. We want to see new things all the time. Life becomes a swipe, your friends become a swipe, dinner becomes a swipe. It’s always on to the next.”
We’ve also become dopamine stackers: if you’ve ever watched a film while intermittently scrolling on your phone, then you are guilty of stacking. “Indulging in readily available dopamine sources causes you to need more stimulation over time to enjoy the same enjoyable effect.”
That, junk food, bingeing on a television series, are all examples of dopamine firing activities that ultimately leave us feeling dissatisfied.
Prescription
To slow my dopamine down and wean myself off fast dopamine habits such as social media scrolling and internet tab jumping.
“With dopamine, you’ve got to replace it with something else,” says Phillips. His top swaps are to engage in learning activities. Watch TED Talks, pick up an old hobby, write poems, read books, do a crossword puzzle, or listen to an entire album.
These are activities that will be of use to you in the future, and whose benefits extend beyond the present moment; unlike doom scrolling, that ultimately makes us feel worse.
A good balance of what Phillips labels fast and slow dopamine hits is 20 per cent fast and 80 per cent slow.
“It will be tough for the first week. It will get easier and after two weeks you are going to think ‘Wow, I was a zombie before, I was controlled by stuff that other people were feeding me’,” says Phillips. Practically he recommends having my phone set so it locks after a certain time. He locks his at 7pm every night, although he can still take calls.
