4 ms·

Serious question: are we sure we get a dopamine reward/thing when we do this? Has this been proven? Not saying this "addiction" does not exist. I like some "dr

• Barrin92 3y ago
  No, it's modern day bloodletting. Dopamine is involved in almost everything and that's why this weird metaphor of 'dopamine fasting' blaming it for random things became popular, however there is no scientific basis for it. (https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/dopamine-fasting-misunderstanding-science-spawns-a-maladaptive-fad-2020022618917 https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/dopamine-fasting-misunde...) It's not an addiction in any serious sense of the term and it's arguably misleading and disempowering people. Not every habit change needs to be framed as addiction battling.
  • blast 3y ago
    There's no single definition of addiction. Gabor Mate's sense of the term seems serious enough, and screentime/socialmedia habit certainly fits: a behavior that gives relief or pleasure but in the long run causes harm, and you can't give it up despite those negative consequences.
• anteloper 3y ago
  yes - more and more research is cropping up around the chemical response to social media usage but here's a particularly succinct paper - dopamine reward is absolutely associated. https://www.iomcworld.org/open-access/neurotransmitter-dopamine-da-and-its-role-in-the-development-of-social-media-addiction-59222.html https://www.iomcworld.org/open-access/neurotransmitter-dopam... To Barrin's point, the jury is still out on formally qualifying this as "addiction" - and for most people the context of habit change is apt.