Ever say those words? Could you be addicted? Today’s entertainment might be tomorrow’s addiction, so you’d better watch it. I like doing research and writing posts on things I’m curious to learn about. Would you call that an addiction? Maybe.
Remember the Eagle’s song, Hotel California? Every listen to the lyrics? I keep thinking of that song…”a prisoner of our own device”…how true is that? Why do we keep going back for “just one more”?
Dopamine
It’s the hits of dopamine that we get every time we feel rewarded for a behavior, whether it’s scrolling on a cell phone, checking how many likes we got on a post, knitting just one more row or researching one more topic, we get a rush of dopamine. I talked more about dopamine in my previous post Liimbic Capitalism and go into detail. Check it out if you haven’t already.
Digital Dominance - A War for Your Mind
The post modern temptations are abundant and conquering our ability to control ourselves. No one is ever bored. Boredom invites creativity. Constant digital distractions that keep us posting, liking and subscribing to more of the same instead of getting outside and going for a walk where we are partaking in reality and stepping away from the screen. Taking the time to see nature and see the beauty of life, the gift of discovery and creativity just waiting for you.
Abstinence isn’t the only step to breaking an addiction, another necessary step is substituting our environment with a new one that doesn’t tempt us. Just like an alcoholic avoiding a bar or party where alcohol is being served, we need change what occupies our time and the spaces we frequent when we imbibe in our weaknesses.
Can we make a change? Can we walk away without slipping into another addiction? Can we stop this decline and regulate our dopamine and stop the possibility of passing this dopamine imbalance onto our children? Will the next generation be even more addicted?
Seven Differences Between Pleasure and Happiness
Pleasure is short term, like a meal. Happiness is long term, like a lifetime.
Pleasure is visceral, you feel it in your body. Happiness is ethereal, you feel it above the neck.
Pleasure is taking, like from a casino. Happiness is giving, like Habitat for Humanity.
Pleasure is achieved alone, like a chocolate cake. Happiness is achieved in social groups, like a birthday party.
Pleasure is achievable with substances, like cocaine or heroin. Happiness is not achievable with substances.
The extremes of pleasure whether it be like substances or behaviors, substances like cocaine, nicotine, alcohol, sugar and behaviors like shopping, gambling, gaming, pornography. In the extreme they are addictive, there is a —holic afterwards, like: shopaholic, alcoholic.
Pleasure is dopamine. Happiness is seratonin. Two different pathways, two different mechanisms of action.
Dopamine is an excited neuron. To much excitement leads to neuronal death. There is a fail safe, a mechanism to down regulate the dopamine receptor to avoid extremes. This means there are fewer receptors. Over time there is a need for more and more leading to tolerance. Once tolerance is reached we call that addiction.
Seratonin is an inhibitor. No need to down regulate the receptor, if anything it is being over inhibited. One thing that down regulates seratonin, that’s dopamine. So the more pleasure you seek, the less happy you are.
Do you know the difference between pleasure and happiness?
Nobody has died from happiness.
Addiction isn’t limited to substances we associate with addition or digital technology, it can apply to anything that takes you away from living a normal life. You do remember what normal is like, don’t you? It’s not just a setting on a dryer.
oday’s feature photo was by Joshua Fuller on Unsplash