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Hearing ignorant computer science people talking about "dopamine" is just as bad as hearing people call their computer monitor their PC. It's wrong and it leads
by superkuh 5y ago
Hearing ignorant computer science people talking about "dopamine" is just as bad as hearing people call their computer monitor their PC. It's wrong and it leads to bad conclusions.
> smartphones and the social media platforms they support are turning us into bona fide addicts. While it’s easy to dismiss this claim as hyperbole, platforms like Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram leverage the very same neural circuitry used by slot machines and cocaine to keep us using their products as much as possible.
This is hyperbole and it's not wrong at the same time. You know what else uses the very same neural circuitry as used by slot machines and cocaine? Reading a boook. Talking a walk. Petting your dog. Existing.
Dopaminergic populations of cells existing in a dozen different functional populations among the brain and project nearly everywhere. And if they're trying to claim that reward prediction circuitry is 'hijacked' they're going to need to show some evidence. Cocaine hijacks the brains reward prediction circuitry by directly acting on the dopamine re-uptake proteins. There is nothing intrinsically addicting or anything at all that can "hijack" the reward prediction circuitry in a smartphone screen. It is simply another stimuli filtered through your normal senses going the normal routes. It is NOT hijacking anything.
Tech bros need to stop talking about neuroscience like they understand it. For the most part, they don't and it leads to embarassing and dangerous claims like this article makes.
- nostrebored 5y agohttps://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/Trevor-M-Haynes-2129302006 https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/Trevor... Trevor has multiple articles attributed partially to him while affiliated with Harvard Medical School?
- taurath 5y agoCould you expand on how slot machines are different than social media on brain systems? I think you’ve got a good definitional point, and I roll my eyes whenever the word dopamine is used, but isn’t it speaking of the addictive cycle or an overactive reward system?
- sva_ 5y ago> Tech bros need to stop talking about neuroscience like they understand it. The author: > Trevor Haynes is a research technician in the Department of Neurobiology at Harvard Medical School. I think it's not hyperbole to assume that algorithms which maximize user engagement time will hijack all sorts of neural processes involved in forming habits.
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- selfhoster11 5y ago> You know what else uses the very same neural circuitry as used by slot machines and cocaine? Reading a boook. Talking a walk. Petting your dog. Existing. And yet people will prefer slot machines, cocaine, and to some extent social media once they get addicted. Does that not indicate that while they use the same pathways, they do so in a much stronger way?
- FooBarBizBazz 5y ago> It is simply another stimuli filtered through your normal senses going the normal routes. So is this: https://www.thoughtco.com/the-giant-jewel-beetle-1968152 https://www.thoughtco.com/the-giant-jewel-beetle-1968152