Comment by tines
2 days ago
This is a topic that's really interesting to me, and I've thought a lot about it.
The approach that this guy is taking to break out of the addicting loop of gaming/scrolling/whatever is to try to take the principles that make those things appealing and port them to the things that we know we should be doing. Video games have these short feedback loops and quick rewards, so his idea is to make real life more like a video game, in some small way. I was surprised to see that even this website has little achievements in the bottom right corner, when you scroll or see a section for the first time you'll get a little popup congratulating you.
There's nothing evil or wrong about this on the surface, of course. But I wonder if it's not making the situation worse by ingraining a need for quick feedback and frequent external affirmation into wider and wider areas of our lives. In one of my favorite books of all time, Amusing ourselves to Death, Neil Postman talks about the "entertainmentification" of education. The book makes the brilliant and alarming insight that over the centuries, all of humanity's efforts have gone into dealing with the problem of lacking information (and, I would add, entertainment). But now we have the opposite problem: we are so flooded with information, and entertainment, we don't know how to handle it, and society is totally unprepared. If memory serves, Postman warns that we are becoming a people who can't do anything that isn't entertaining. And this was published in 1985, long before Tiktok and its ilk.
Another approach, which admittedly does require some mental strength, is to allow oneself to get bored. Boredom is the mother of invention. I have a theory that our brain has a preferred level of stimulation; if external stimulation is high, internal stimulation will diminish to achieve the desired total; and if external stimulation is low, internal stimulation will increase. The most productive and satisfying times I've ever had in my life have been when I cut myself off from cheap entertainment. When I do that, suddenly I enjoy the hard things again.
I have another theory, that great things are accomplished by people with nothing else to do. If we allow ourselves to swim in an environment of endless entertainment, we're effectively kneecapping our ability to do great things.
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Also, isn't handling a lot of receipt paper bad for you or something?
I have similar ideas from my own experience. I believe that humans have a “set point” for dopamine hits, if you are constantly receiving quick cheap dopamine hits your set point goes higher and you are constantly craving more. Similarly, if you back off the hits it will initially become uncomfortable but your set point will lower and you will not have those cravings.
This may be controversial, but I believe a part of the prevalence of ADHD in younger people is that their set point is unnaturally high from childhood as they never learned how to be bored.
This is my mental model as I personally have observed my set point change throughout my life. I think it makes sense logically as well as these small dopamine hits can become addictive like anything else, just to a lesser extent than something like heroin.
There is some research about this. I'm by no means an expert but a lot of it seems to tie back to dopamine and addiction science. You might like to look into the research of Anna Lembke around this.
I was never bored as a kid because I was almost always reading books. I don't think it has had negative effects on me.
Books are not particularly optimized for addiction or dopamine, but social media is. Very intentionally and expertly so.
> Also, isn't handling a lot of receipt paper bad for you or something?
Yes if you are worried about microplastics. Dr. Rhonda Patrick has an episode where she talks about receipts specifically (at the 1hr 2m mark) [0].
To paraphrase: thermal paper receipts are loaded with BPA which gets absorbed through your skin. The chemicals are worse too since the plastics for receipts aren't scrutinized like they would be for a food storage item. They use BPA is used as a color developer in thermal printing.
It gets way worse if you've used hand sanitizer, lotion, or sunscreen recently since those increase skin permeability. Studies show dramatically higher absorption rates when your skin barrier is compromised. Although I can't find a link for that right now.
Definitely something to think about if you're a cashier or work somewhere handling receipts all day. I've started just declining receipts unless I actually need them for returns/expense reports.
[0] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTzw_grLzjw
To add on top of this, it is interesting when you link it to ADHD and related conditions. Where do you draw the line between "low" executive function (core adhd symptom) and "normal"?
One may argue that if society were simpler or different than today, many of such cases would not be a problem as it is nowadays, kinda like people wearing glasses: you dont ask if they cant see or if they need help, because they have the proper tools (glasses) and environment (our own perception) that fully accomodate them when needed.
This could also apply to other things, but I am mind-wandering. Maybe somebody could draw more links to stuff like this.
I agree with everything you wrote. But for many people, giving up what entertains them is just not possible. That is why I think my method can really help those people. Thank you for this very interesting comment.
As for the paper, you need to choose one that is bisphenol-free, otherwise it is obviously problematic.
Appreciate the thought-provoking article and your comments, thank you!
The boredom thing resonates a lot. My most creative or focused streaks usually start after a few days of digital detox