High social media dopamine reddit The myth of 'Dopamine detoxes' and dopamine is 'bad' are social media trends not based on science. Trust me u r underestimating social media /YT/reddit addictions. This is our first step to achieve the focus we deserve on our road to success. We need to stop the fast reward loop, then engage in a healthy fast reward loop then gradually move up to medium and progressively longer reward loops, which is what Jan 9, 2025 · Right now, if you have indulged for a long time on doom scrolling, unhealthy food, social media, video gaming, etc. As a reminder, here are the rules of my dopamine fast: 1) No social media. This mat be hard getting used to. Learn a song, paint a picture, reorganize your house, read a book, knit a hat, write a story, go for a hike, etc. You need to "dopamine detox" in that you need to do a lot fewer high dopamine activities that are endless. Limit yourself to only a few hours of screen time a day, only if you do your homework, it's imperative that someone holds you accountable to be productive Basically, your reward center decides when to release dopamine by the things that are biologically "good" such as good and sex, and also from environmental training, like social media, porn, tv, praise and validation. Dec 1, 2024 · I think I l’m doing this currently with social media without realising. Sepah and get real information on this topic far away from nutjobs like Huberman. going outside on weekdays because someone spends WAY to much time on social media, which is maladaptive since now he won’t share time with his family (of course I’m oversimplifying, every case is different). Start with a Dopamine Detox, then maintain a Dopamine Fast. Reading is already quite different from 3D activities because you are staring at a flat surface and rehydrating the pictures. Do you mean dopaminergic drug addiction? You can't be addicted to dopamine, part of addiction involves dopamine dysfunction that usually arises from illness, environmental pollution, or most commonly, drug abuse. I don't know how to mitigate this. Feb 27, 2021 · The results have led to some media speculation that this is the source of obsessional or addictive use of social media, and about the dopamine -related nature of such behaviours 2. Hopefully more states follow Utahs lead with the Utah Social Media Regulation Act starting March 1st. This would be things like social media - tv - procrastination- your typical bad habits "Detox" is probably a misnomer, as you can't technically detox from dopamine the way you would cigarettes or coffee, as it's actually an important chemical in the body, but basically, the idea is to give up activities which trigger a high dopamine response (this would include much of the Internet, especially social media, gaming, and euphoric I was afraid to show myself on social media- eventually I grinded out within 8 months - now I’m making sub 6 figures as a software engineer without a cs degree 😏. (I'm not aware of any mental disorders caused by "excess dopamine"I mean maybe tics or ADHD. Keep your end goals in sight. I went to bed last night and decided I wouldn't look at my phone first thing in the morning. Dopamine shows up in multiple neural pathways but the relevant one seems to be the reward pathways. You have developed dopamine resistance. Dopamine addiction is not a thing. The MCAT (Medical College Admission Test) is offered by the AAMC and is a required exam for admission to medical schools in the USA and Canada. This controlled exposure can help you stay connected without it overwhelming your life. I think the issue with social media and video games is that it’s an endless stream of novel stuff, so your brain just wants more and over several hours you are depleting dopamine that could be Often I hear that social media and other addictive patterns come up because they release high dopamine which was needed for Mother Nature to teach us what to be pursued and what's not. I’ll probably get social media like Facebook to only stay in touch with old family and not have the app on my phone. grad student)have been improved . i mean it can be used for good or bad right? I read somewhere we should max at 30min a day of social media usage. "Detox" is probably a misnomer, as you can't technically detox from dopamine the way you would cigarettes or coffee, as it's actually an important chemical in the body, but basically, the idea is to give up activities which trigger a high dopamine response (this would include much of the Internet, especially social media, gaming, and euphoric I was afraid to show myself on social media- eventually I grinded out within 8 months - now I’m making sub 6 figures as a software engineer without a cs degree 😏. It's probably not-enough of something else, like sleep. For me like if social media is that distracting to you and you're spending 10 hours a day on your phone, and it's starting to affect your grades and your mental health then that's a problem. Jan 20, 2024 · Lock up your phone and hide your earbuds. your dopamine receptors are almost certainly downregulated. I would say that it doesn't just seem. Once I told myself, “You can do whatever you want, as long as it’s one of (list of things beneficial to your life like reading, exercising, friend/family time)”, I overcame my impulsivity towards high dopamine producing-unhealthy activities. The downside to dopamine, though, is clear: it can also generate undesirable addictions and cravings. This combined with the lack of stopping cues in social media presents as someone who can’t “focus” or “break away” to do important tasks. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter involved in the motivation and reward pathways. This includes YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, Discord, etc. Dopamine detox doesn't detox dopamine. Lasted for days. Social media gives you dopamine hits. ive had enough and am ready to reclaim control of my time and stop squandering over three hours each day on distractions. I have had issues with ADHD, appropriate behavior, social cues and getting regular enjoyment out of activities/walking around low energy and low motivation like OP my whole life. There's nothing wrong about having social media as long as it is used sparingly imo. I was pretty good at using it sparingly until a few weeks ago. I guess if “dopamine fasting” (which has a lot in common with ”social media fasting”) is helpful to people then they may as well enjoy it? This definitely isn’ “tech bad” though. So, I've decided to do a cold turkey dopamine detox. Start with a Dopamine Detox Welcome to Dopamine Detoxing. However, there IS data supporting the idea that anticipation increases the pleasure you get from a reward. i do think unplugging is certainly a beneficial thing to do, & setting a goal of turning of your electronics if you are The #1 social media platform for MCAT advice. You are rewarding yourself when you deserve to get rewarded (socializing, working on your passions, being prodoctive (even after cleaning your room or making the bed can release dopamine if you make it a task you need to complete) So apparently Social Anxiety is thought to be best treated by raising Dopamine, as well as GABA, the former being the reason MAOIs like Nardil are so considered good for the condition, and the latter why Benzos and Alcohol work well. “Dopamine fast” should only be done as cognitive therapy to deal with addictions in order to increase wellbeing eg. Create unnaturally high dopamine spikes, which then depress baseline dopamine levels which gets the addict to seek more of the drug to feel ‘normal’. As the title suggests, basically as long as social media has existed I start my day spending at least an hour scrolling the internet getting high off of new content. Imo, main problem isn't dopamine itself, but sources you get that dopamine from. Hold button for 10 sec = level up = dopamine hit. It’s more “companies exploit tech to make bad things”. the stakes aren’t the same 1. because the dopamine from social media isn’t exactly neutral, social media apps want you to actually be addicted. That is how you start feeling those weird feelings. Break, long and difficult efforts into smaller tasks so success can be realised, incrementally- a step at a time. It straight up is. Yes it is beneficial to avoid social media if you spend too much time there, but this doesnt mean you detox your dopamine levels. it doesn’t happen just because social media is so awesome, it can be but it’s the intention of the companies to sell our attention for money/profit. I then suddenly got sucked into using YouTube shorts for hours, then woke up wanting to scroll and then started jumping from one social media platform to another just to scroll; reels, tiktok. i dont care if they didnt kill anyone with their hands, theyre stealing decades from people's lives and making kids brain growth stunted with making social media give us instant dopamine like slot machines at casinos. Those who know science can use dopamine for their own purposes. Basically, your reward center decides when to release dopamine by the things that are biologically "good" such as good and sex, and also from environmental training, like social media, porn, tv, praise and validation. This detox switches sources of dopamine stimulation. Children raised with ipads and smartphones who browse tailored content that has been designed to get them addicted to viewing it will suffer the most from this. 2 clicks = funny picture = dopamine hit. The more time you spend worrying and researching is time you could be spending actually doing something! Feb 10, 2024 · However, the activation of Dopamine-based reward pathways doesn’t tell the whole story of why social media is so addictive; reward prediction errors and variable reward schedules are what really Hello everyone, In the episode about dopamine,Huberman says that you can raise your base line “wavepool” of dopamine by taking a cold shower. (mind you it would be like 4 days backpacking, 1 day back with social media, then repeat), so maybe just need uninterrupted time. These projects consume me, remove my urge to check social media and boost my self-esteem when completed. We will give out a step by step, informative guide on how to conquer our compulsion in just weeks. If someone does methamphetamine it can go up between 10x-100x. Jun 27, 2024 · Higher social media use, especially in social contexts, can sometimes reduce dopamine activity and synthesis, which contrasts with the effects of many other behavioural addictions 10. I deleted TikTok and instagram again but kept Snapchat to talk to family. Breaking those muscle memory habits can help (at least at the start) to stop you in your tracks. I’m only allowed to use social media for business and content creation purposes; I cannot use it for entertainment. I realised, I can't just quit the things that are harming me, I have to quit it ALL so I can rewire my brain. I am currently in college and i need to interact with the internet but my attention span os awful. I keep itching for some fun excitement that I might get from checking social media, chatting friends, or eating a sweet dessert, and not something I get from watching an hour-long technical lecture. Seems like social media is consuming me. The proposed solution is to take some time away from high dopamine activities in order to better balance your dopamine levels, which makes boring tasks more entertaining to complete. /porn/drugs/games, makes it harder to do lower dopamine activities. After that, you get a low and experience cravings. Force yourself to do 30 minutes of whatever you consider to be your hardest task for the day. And they stack together because they all influence the same pathway. Aug 22, 2024 · The Social Media Dopamine Loop: How It Works. I thought if I would commit to no social media for the day, I might as well commit to the whole nine yards. Yes. My major addiction is social media (specifically reddit , youtube, and instagram) If I were to cut those 3 out my brain would look for other high dopamine shit, first netflix, then video games, porn, you name it. ive made the decision to quit instagram and other reel-type social media for the next 30 days. The social media dopamine cycle becomes muscle memory (sometimes I've been doing it for 10 minutes or more before I realise what I'm doing and haven't taken a thing in!). In order to "restore" dopamine circuits you have to quit all the quick stimulations (porn,social media,games,drugs and booze,etc). But simply latching onto the dopamine aspect of it is a bit odd. These social media apps can suck your energy up- focus on your - strated removing social media apps from my phone a few weeks ago - started detoxing 3 days ago My advice to you is, just do it. It detoxes adrenaline and cortisol. Chronic abuse of some "hard" drugs can burn out dopamine receptors, but a few weeks of abstention from social media isn't going to regrow your synapses. If you're an adrenaline junkie like I was, then there is a right way and a very wrong way to do this. No social media, no TV, no video games, no junk food, no music etc. Eating sugary sweet foods will cause a high spike in dopamine. Getting on anxiety medication last year and has minimized the amount of time I need, but it's basically impossible for me to start my day without it. Especially in high school, there's some pressure in keeping up with what's going on. You can’t replace internet porn with low stimulus activities but you can replace addictive habits like scrolling reddit/social media/tv with some of these. This is a support group to help with impulsive behaviour towards Eating, Gaming, Gambling, Thrill, and Tech. This would be things like social media - tv - procrastination- your typical bad habits Top reasons for my ADHD brain being stuck on social media: Dopamine-seeking (solution: shop from my “healthy dopamine list” for something that catches my attention and hyperfocus on that instead of my phone) Burrowing to avoid difficult emotions (solution: find a safe place/person to express and process the emotions) The same things we’re saying about social media are similar things said in the past about radio, TV, the computer, etc. I suggest you take a look into the father of "dopamine detox" Dr. **Scheduled Social Media Time**: Instead of quitting cold turkey, allocate specific times for social media. As you accomplish this you will experience natural dopamine. the dopamine increase depends on the user - which is different from doing substances that are inherently addictive and effect the brain directly (like drugs). Try to limit the amount of “cheap” dopamine you get in the first half of the day. I am trying to get dopamine form hardwork. But because the dopamine system/reward system is stimulated by many things that were supposed to bring us survival advantage but also were linked to hard work - social interactions (in real life), food (that we were "hunting for"), getting other types of rewards - and the system was "hacked" with "easy pleasures" - and no hard work - these Hmm not sure this would be enough for me. You are just avoid a pleasure trigger. if there is a hell, i really hope these social media CEOs go there. Its a scary thought but maybe one we should all face. Just look at how social media is designed. The problem is that social media can be an addictive problem for people which can lead to dopamine sensitivity which lowers the baseline production of dopamine like in most other addictions. That along with too much cortisol. Zoom fatigue aside, I keep craving a dopamine rush whenever I start a task that requires deep focus. The average person has an extremely high tolerance for dopamine, meaning that they have to keep upping the stakes to get the feeling of satisfaction for a Dopamine hit. Social media takes reading to the next level by also having you rehydrate social experiences without another actual human being present. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter, which helps with motivation, but is also used to measure the addictive potential of any behaviors or drugs. A benefit of the carnivore diet is that it eliminates high dopamine foods, and lowers your tolerance. A "bad dopamine-source" detox which includes finding new ways of configuring things to boost their dopamine output. It’s dopamine detox time, and it’s going to change your life. Learn to enjoy these milestones. Even when I had good habits, I could not focus for my life but would feel great still, I would be jumping from dopamine giving task to task constantly. Watch his video on dopamine and the analogy of the tidal wave pool. I struggled with gaming & social media addiction as well. People are absolutely addicted to using their phones all day, every day, doing nothing but mindless browsing of social media, reddit, youtube, and other easy-access dopamine fixes. Once high school is over, this will slow down a lot. I’ve done this and it’s worked great but… I was wondering what are some other ways you can increase your dopamine naturally ? I’m really struggling to focus these days even though I’m on Dopamine is largely responsible for motivation, desire, and cravings. Distraction-Dopamine-Disruption: Our inclination to being distracted also comes down to neurobiology. Drugs like ecstasy or molly blow all your dopamine levels and take many days to replenish. i'm resetting my habits and reducing dopamine overload. v. **Substitute with Positive Digital Content**: Replace some social media time with educational content (but be careful that it's not just edutainment) The #1 social media platform for MCAT advice. they literally they us this like once a year. itscompletly destroying me i Welcome to Dopamine Detoxing, by Andrew Kirby. On a personal level, i practice dopamine detox so that i can focus on things that don't give me high dopamine but help be to improve like studying. I think the issue with social media and video games is that it’s an endless stream of novel stuff, so your brain just wants more and over several hours you are depleting dopamine that could be Force yourself to do 30 minutes of whatever you consider to be your hardest task for the day. See the Required Reading for more. Ive attempted to detox from social media before and it’s not something I’ve been able to consistently finish. Hello, we are H&B team. You basically have to be bored a couple of weeks (I've done it 3 times and after 2+ weeks I saw results). I was successful. I've done extensive travel backpacking with very limited social media and it wasn't enough. i’ve looked into dopamine detoxing recently as well, and what i found was many articles saying that there’s not much information to support the tangible benefits of practicing a dopamine detox as you stated in your post. Too much dopamine for a extended period of time is bad especially if it's instant gratification. It is kinda like a crutch. That's insane. I am currently on dopamine detox, i've disable all my social media , restricted my screen time to 1hr ,no short content , no PMO, started meditation and workout. I doubt social media really spikes your dopamine that high - I’m guessing it just consumes it at a moderate rate but over a longer period of time. That’s the gist of the messages from a large number of posts, blogs and wellness websites out there, all promoting a quick-fix for people’s depressed moods and lack of productivity. Let me repeat: high dopamine spikes reduce your baseline dopamine. People asked me where I was - I literally disconnected from everyone for that one year and grinded code every day. I will also eliminate texting. Even social media. You can try to find bigger satisfaction from new hobbies or crafts. Oct 29, 2021 · Stanford psychiatrist Anna Lembke’s book, Dopamine Nation, explains our brain chemistry's role in modern society's addiction to social media. I was diagnosed at a young age and my parents never wanted to medicate me. When we're participating in a dopamine envoking activity (whether that be exersize, studying, eating, sex), more dopamine is released until it peaks then drops below the baseline dopamine levels (postpartum depression) and eventually recovers. Video games and social media gets us used to the high reward low effort dopamine cycle. Stop doing those first and your dopamine will come back and cortisol will lower. Welcome to Dopamine Detoxing. The theory is that too much dopamine from t. But it does not take ultramarathons to create reductions in dopamine. I'd recommend checking out Burt's "structural holes", studying how information is communicated within networks, and then thinking about how the nature of social media mediates or moderates those exchanges -> the impact on social structure, power, authority, and so on. this detox is my first step toward a life where I prioritize real, meaningful experiences over digital noise. i will not At the beginning of 2023 I got off of social media for 9 months. If done correctly, "dopamine detox" actually increases real dopamine and can rewire your brain to use that as the primary motivator. But you lower your dopamine release and you get used to that. If you constantly have a source of short term high dopamine kicks which require low effort like social media, certain types of games, and smoking a joint. Stay strong brothers and sisters!! Beyond that, it’s easy to single out impacts of things like smoking, alcohol, nicotine, sex, etc yet screen time is tough. Its the last social media I have and tbh probably the only thing Ive been using to ignore the fact that I dont really see or talk to people in person that often. I can’t simply go cold Turkey on social media; it’s never completely worked in the past and i always end up reinstalling. Halfway through September I came back to Snapchat, instagram, and TikTok because I went to college. . I also don't feel bad about scrolling social media a lot. I think that when you delete social media you do realize how lonely you actually are. The problem with dopamine is that it gets us hooked on things that give us short-term gratification but not much else: cookies, alcohol and social media are all high in dopamine. But 15-20 years is not enough time for our society to really adapt to the mental hits tech is giving us, especially when we spent millenia without it. Well, I want to add on that, unlike most social media platforms, Reddit seems to cater to (support) individuality, vs Instagram, which demonizes a post that isn’t “agorythimically” profitable. Stims helps by increasing the baseline dopamine so you can focus on more productive and healthier tasks and finish complementing your brain with the dopamine it needs. Anyway, when it comes to social media, video games, porn etc. You could even look at how the technology itself affects these things. But now I’m realizing that I’m using it exactly how I did before— to escape. There's a bunch of stuff that comes up from "dopamine scrolling" but I would take all of it with a grain of salt and consider who's writing it and whether they're trying to sell you something. You get notifications for things you’re not even mentioned in, which can lead to major FOMO, which leads to major depression. well partly the feeling of being useless but mostly bc, idk if any of yall experienced this and idk how to explain it exactly, whenever i constantly keep on doing high dopamine shit nd not feeling responsible not even think positively about my life, after like a week or two i get this extreme fatigue and tiredness in my brain idk what u call it brain fog or whatev. The dopamine feedback loop in social media is a complex mechanism that keeps users coming back for more. Its really helping me to improve my focus levels and my ability to study for more long hours (i am engg. Let’s say you open Instagram, see a post stimulating your brain, and get a dopamine hit. You could also dedicate specific times of your day to it. Nope, eating also releases dopamine but it is small compared to getting new information every second. /r/MCAT is a place for MCAT practice, questions, discussion, advice, social networking, news, study tips and more. It might sound weird, but try to focus on the food alone and enjoy the small dopamine hit from it. In just that relatively short time, things have vastly changed in terms of how people just communicate with each other. Eg 4hrs of reddit becomes 2. You scroll down. It’s balanced, and way less draconian than many southern red states approaches to things. Experiencing frequent, very high dopamine spikes produces not only temporary low points, it reduces the baseline level of dopamine. Dopamine is a chemical to be nourished, like you said it increases your motivation! A great natural supplement that boosts Dopamine is L tyrosine, the recommended dosage is one 800mg capsule a day. Exercise, nutrition and Vitamin D has helped my ADHD and low Dopamine more than any supplements. Im uninstalling reddit. It applies to any dopamine-spiking activity. Up to ONE HUNDRED times more dopamine with meth. It begins with an action, such as posting a photo or status update, which creates anticipation for a response. This is my understanding, correct me if I'm wrong. Unnatural sources like social media, video games and most dangerous among them is prn. That's how you start to relate low intensity stimulus related to dopamine circuits (clean room, exercise, etc). Like, I was graduating high school when social media took off. We are college students wanting to help our society to tackle the problem of social media over use. Now, there might be exceptions with certain diseases, but generally the brain seems to tolerate dopamine pretty well. It is especially proven in case of prn that it can completely alter your brain in a negative way. Eating high sugars give energy quickly so it's easy to have sugar addiction. They're addictive and extremely time consuming, I can lose hours a day mindlessly scrolling through reddit on pc, instagram on my phone, and sometimes both at the same time. But whether that's "excess dopamine" or dopamine dysregulation is hard to say). fgbjn kkjd gecfsq qjkmpb vhgkxc nxon gxqa nqn zmxp zuszd qlmefli avl uygu bfs hvghqu