3 ms·

I don't know much about how the brain works, but I know that I appreaciate more the chocolate in a vanilla ice cream with small bits of chocolate than in a choc

by Zababa 5y ago

I don't know much about how the brain works, but I know that I appreaciate more the chocolate in a vanilla ice cream with small bits of chocolate than in a chocolate ice cream. I know that I appreciate water more after not drinking it for some time and being thirsty. I appreciate more my parents since I moved out and see them not every day but around once a week. On the other hand, after having spent too much time playing a game (ever over a period of years), I start to not feel any pleasure when playing it. Given all of that, the ideas behind dopamine fasting make sense to me. I won't claim that it does for everyone of course, but if someone tells me that it doesn't make sense because this or that in the brain, I would tell them that it doesn't match my experience of other things. Maybe dopamine shouldn't be in the name, maybe it shouldn't call fasting, but I feel like the article is attacking the content and not just the name.

mattkrause 5y ago
Sure, but do you find video games more interesting when thirsty? Does chocolate tastes better when eaten without good company? The argument is that lumping everything together is unnecessary: you can disconnect from different things at different times. I’d say this is true for the biochemistry too: dopamine has myriad roles and avoiding flash photography to reduce retinal dopamine release seems…unlikely to relate to mood. Heck, about half of dopamine isn’t even in the brain: it’s got a big role in the gut and pancreas too!
- Zababa 5y ago
  Interesting. I would say that video games aren't more interesting when thirsty. On the other hand, depending on the moment, video games, chocolate, having a good company and social media can all fill a certain void, that I wouldn't encounter if I disconnected from each of the things separately. I think that's what might be meant by dopamine fasting, though the "dopamine" term focuses a bit too much on the supposed origin of the feeling instead of the feeling itself.

by Zababa 5y ago

mattkrause 5y ago

Sure, but do you find video games more interesting when thirsty? Does chocolate tastes better when eaten without good company? The argument is that lumping everything together is unnecessary: you can disconnect from different things at different times. I’d say this is true for the biochemistry too: dopamine has myriad roles and avoiding flash photography to reduce retinal dopamine release seems…unlikely to relate to mood. Heck, about half of dopamine isn’t even in the brain: it’s got a big role in the gut and pancreas too!

Zababa 5y ago
Interesting. I would say that video games aren't more interesting when thirsty. On the other hand, depending on the moment, video games, chocolate, having a good company and social media can all fill a certain void, that I wouldn't encounter if I disconnected from each of the things separately. I think that's what might be meant by dopamine fasting, though the "dopamine" term focuses a bit too much on the supposed origin of the feeling instead of the feeling itself.