You might like the book "The Age of Addiction, How Bad Habits Became Big Business" by David T. Courtwright. It talks about substitutability of pleasures, among

You might like the book "The Age of Addiction, How Bad Habits Became Big Business" by David T. Courtwright. It talks about substitutability of pleasures, among other things. The most interesting idea that I took from it was the idea of "blending" and "intensifying" of pleasures over time. For example, with alcohol. Initially humans had fermented fruits, then beer and wine, then distilled alcohol. The pleasurable substance was refined over time and the pleasure was intensified. In parallel, humans blended together multiple pleasures at once, for example combining alcohol with milkshakes or making sugary cocktails. The book makes a strong case that this process of refining, intensifying, trading, and blending pleasures has been a constant force throughout civilization, and it applies the same argument to the internet and social media.