Dopamine social media reddit Just look at how social media is designed. **Scheduled Social Media Time**: Instead of quitting cold turkey, allocate specific times for social media. Only problem is, every website you use sends cookies and your activity to Facebook. 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. the stakes aren’t the same ive made the decision to quit instagram and other reel-type social media for the next 30 days. Only by technicality. It's like giving yourself a 'social media appointment' instead of constantly scrolling. When someone reads "Dopamine Detox", they will conclude i was a heavily social media and smartphone addict, like have my phone out is like as natural as blinking (because i feel it give me comfort from outer world), and then at that time i was have my period of lowest depression (i have manic depressive disorder) and i dont even have any energy to do anything even playing my phone, just sleeping or The one thing holding me back from being 99% efficient is social media use. I've done extensive travel backpacking with very limited social media and it wasn't enough. Let’s say you open Instagram, see a post stimulating your brain, and get a dopamine hit. Add the double whammy of not liking staples of the tiktok genre seemingly like the music on videos for no reason and that infuriating text to speech shit, and I actively hate almost every single one I've ever seen or been sent by friends. Distraction-Dopamine-Disruption: Our inclination to being distracted also comes down to neurobiology. I have been trying to stay away from the above-mentioned things and focus on my work, but there are times when my brain is just exhausted from work and I need a break and eventually end up installing Instagram or watching porno. I also don't feel bad about scrolling social media a lot. Trust me u r underestimating social media /YT/reddit addictions. Those who know science can use dopamine for their own purposes. I'm pretty sure you forgot social media (like reddit), sugar, and other forms of fast rewards on your list. Idk, I find it curious how ubiquitous it has become as I am inherently uninsterested in extremely short form content like that. ): All of a sudden, studying, exercising, and doing things I usually consider a pain in the ass, become much more appealing to me, and I actually become somewhat interested in them. At the beginning of 2023 I got off of social media for 9 months. Shit's toxic, so happy I got Facebook out of my life years ago. this detox is my first step toward a life where I prioritize real, meaningful experiences over digital noise. Hard things first. our brains with unnaturally high amounts of dopamine on a daily basis, even if we don't know it. There are a lot of instructional videos that are around 30 minutes, and it should be very difficult to pull dopamine from those. I love solving "problems/puzzles"; it's a key part of my ADHD, gives me a huge dopamine rush. 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. I just interviewed Andrew Huberman on why you shouldn't rely on stimulants (like nicotine) when lacking motivation, the dangers of spiking dopamine without effort, his workout & supplement routines, using NSDR to boost dopamine, and how he handles social media backlash. The ideas that come from audio books combined with the acts of walking are probably a 1+1=3 , at least it is for me. You scroll down. 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. Yes, you are addicted to dopamine. I don't think either perspective are mutually exclusive - its just that Huberman is focusing on how symptoms of behavior manifest neurochemically whereas the other video is looking more at the societal causes. this, I still need my memes. I am pretty sure that social media, including Reddit, exacerbates my ADHD and has reduced me to a barely functional adult 53yo person. This is our first step to achieve the focus we deserve on our road to success. 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. But I have cut down almost half of my previous consumption. I can’t simply go cold Turkey on social media; it’s never completely worked in the past and i always end up reinstalling. I spend way too much time on the internet just absolutely despising everyone, and it’s not that I’m some asocial curmudgeon, people are actually despicable and detestable all across the internet. But regardless, it’s pretty simple. Its really helping me to improve my focus levels and my ability to study for more long hours (i am engg. I deleted TikTok and instagram again but kept Snapchat to talk to family. You are just avoid a pleasure trigger. I knew I had to retrain my brain to find satisfaction outside of endless scrolling. Social media takes reading to the next level by also having you rehydrate social experiences without another actual human being present. I've deleted all social media from my phone the past week. I have a tiktok, reddit, twitter, and instagram account. Yes. Most of the time the pop up is enough because I realise that I wasn't going to go on social media is was going to check my email 馃し The #1 social media platform for MCAT advice. This would be things like social media - tv - procrastination- your typical bad habits Stay away from what you use to bombard yourself with dopamine, and go for more long-form, educational content. This release makes you feel good momentarily and makes you want to use social media more to keep getting those positive feelings. e. Which is why social media often feels good while we're doing it but horrible as soon as we stop. It tries using its current digital environment to stimulate dopamine in the same way. Lasted for days. Breaking those muscle memory habits can help (at least at the start) to stop you in your tracks. 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. grad student)have been improved . The problem is that social media platforms are designing apps to stimulate the viewer, and the only way that continent gets views, algorithmically speaking is if they make a very stimulating piece of content, but not all content is stimulating, that something can be good, and not stimulating in terms of attention, span or high dopamine fixation Jan 9, 2025 路 Right now, if you have indulged for a long time on doom scrolling, unhealthy food, social media, video gaming, etc. You can quit your addiction with 2 steps: Quit everything you are addicted to. Try to limit the amount of “cheap” dopamine you get in the first half of the day. This controlled exposure can help you stay connected without it overwhelming your life. It’s been proven even the stimuli produced by our phone screen lighting up is enough to have a big effect on dopamine. At first I limited my screentime, lost interest in posting and interacting with multiple people, eventually I just deleted. I used to be very active on social media but now I have deleted every app except Reddit (although I lately find myself getting addicted to Reddit too lol). Dec 1, 2024 路 Have you tried quitting social media cold turkey multiple times and it didn’t work? Then this post is for you. See the Required Reading for more. My social media addiction has decreased immensely, I deleted the main platform I used about a month ago. 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. I realized I was drawing mostly for validation and the attention of strangers online. But I agree, you can definitely personalize social media to act the way you intend. your dopamine receptors are almost certainly downregulated. After that, you get a low and experience cravings. My dopamine has been on the high level the past two weeks particularly past week so it does feel somewhat burnt out. So while I don't think that "Dopamine Detox" is a valid scientific term, it still frames (in the reader's mind) critical goals for addiction therapy- which is recovering dopamine sensitivity to behaviors that are outside of the addict's addiction of choice (in this case, social media). Uninstalled all games from phone and Chromebook. find a tool that adds friction to opening your apps (I use superhappy ai, it makes me chat with an ai before I can open You can try to find bigger satisfaction from new hobbies or crafts. I was pretty good at using it sparingly until a few weeks ago. 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. I’ll probably get social media like Facebook to only stay in touch with old family and not have the app on my phone. ONLY when I deleted social media did I realize most of the subjects I was drawing was purely for validation because I knew what my followers wanted and liked. Do you have any recommendations for other apps that teach/help you & give that dopamine kick? Welcome to Dopamine Detoxing. In case you don’t know what dopamine detoxes are, they’re just two weeks where you don’t allow yourself any easy dopamine sources like Netflix/tv, YouTube, video games, junk food, social media, drugs (aside from prescribed). I used to go to FB groups for advice. When I quit social media I turned to Reddit. Sometimes we scroll social media because we feel anxious. I think there are a lot of benefits to silence, as you may find on a meditation retreat, but music is definitely not on the same level as social media or phone addiction. No social media. Gaming is more mature as a medium. Zoom fatigue aside, I keep craving a dopamine rush whenever I start a task that requires deep focus. Whenever I delete my apps for a few days, this feeling goes away. Yes, phones can have a huge effect on this. There are tons of studies on intentional boredom and the positive effects. I will be having a few amazing days of enjoying my hobbies and engaging with my interests and then think to myself, "Wow! I've fixed myself! I can redownload social media; it will be different this time!" Plot twist I have tried doing the dopamine detox but I get very fidgety and irritable when I don’t have anything to constantly scroll through. There are many solutions here, like taking a walk outside, drinking water, cleaning up, or doing a 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. they literally they us this like once a year. I convinced myself I liked it, too. Welcome to Dopamine Detoxing, by Andrew Kirby. It’s a part of your brain’s reward system, meaning it helps you feel good when you do something enjoyable. don't just download an eBook and hope and pray that you'll make the right decision. We are college students wanting to help our society to tackle the problem of social media over use. you'll just get pissed off. This also goes some way to explain depression and anxiety amongst addicts, normal dopamine levels of a user require way more dopamine to reach that feel good zone which their abuse of drugs or alcohol (or anything really) does reach! If the dopamine hit isnt huge, why might social media still pose a serious addiction threat? Dec 16, 2024 路 However, you can make it much easier by regulating dopamine. My problem is that I over do short term pleasure activities like watching social media, scrolling all day then hopping on youtube or just watching football games on TV. It's all of these former social media engineers, execs, ethicists, and experts speaking out about how they inadvertently unleashed AI algorithms that have taught themselves how to hijack our minds and thoughts and even actions, and how that technology has allowed for Suggest me some alternative source of dopamine other than social media and pornography. 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. This ties together both points, on social media it’s anticipating something (highlight, funny, interesting, etc) which is reinforced through dopamine. I draw, too, and I deleted my social media, too. Music is just auditory stimulation. The Reddit interface makes things far more mentally healthy for someone like me. While social media is vastly more complex, I don't think it's a surprise that we're replicating a lot of the same language we've used to talk about video games in the past to talk about social media today. Social media gives you dopamine hits. It makes all or some apps grey. Cortisol comes largely from the comparison and argumentative aspects. but also don't completely lock away your apps. g. ive had enough and am ready to reclaim control of my time and stop squandering over three hours each day on distractions. I set aside time at work to work on problems which may yield "interesting" results. Learn a song, paint a picture, reorganize your house, read a book, knit a hat, write a story, go for a hike, etc. When I'd normally be on social media, I'm now learning 2 languages - naturally my ADHD brain won't let me do just one. Jan 14, 2025 路 So I decided to do something drastic: a dopamine reset. The more time you spend worrying and researching is time you could be spending actually doing something! Hobbies are impossible for me with social media apps installed. Sepah and get real information on this topic far away from nutjobs like Huberman. I’ve literally seen no one mention “fasting” from social interactions, food, exercise, etc. 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. Aug 22, 2024 路 Explore how social media triggers dopamine release, its effects on behavior, and strategies to manage your screen time effectively. But the truth for most people is that constant small hits of dopamine (social media, porn or any form of quick fix media) is usually a bad thing as it desensitizes the brain to dopamine so when your brain gives you dopamine for something useful it won’t mean as much. Also, try setting specific times for checking your feeds. -After an extended period of time goes by being deprived of my usual gluttonous meal of cheap dopamine (social media, porn, video games, etc. I just use one social media now (if you ignore reddit). I took a step back and realized that I have a severe social media addiction. Dopamine shows up in multiple neural pathways but the relevant one seems to be the reward pathways. /r/MCAT is a place for MCAT practice, questions, discussion, advice, social networking, news, study tips and more. Hmm not sure this would be enough for me. In one of the few experimental studies in the field, researchers have found that quitting social media for up to four weeks does nothing to improve our well-being or quality of life. I tried that challenge a few months ago actually. I’m not sure why but my mental health has improved a lot since I stopped using social media, I feel like I have so much more time to do things that I love. I’m only allowed to use social media for business and content creation purposes; I cannot use it for entertainment. Awareness is the first step towards change. I can show scientifically that cutting videogames, social media, etc improves focus. I am trying to get dopamine form hardwork. Satisfaction. at all; my only form of current social media is Reddit. From digital detoxes to the fad of “dopamine fasting”, it appears fashionable to abstain from digital media. Or check it out in the app stores TOPICS social media tweaks for dopamine 2. You get notifications for things you’re not even mentioned in, which can lead to major FOMO, which leads to major depression. The anonymity of Reddit stops it from being social, which allows us to make it more informational. The same things we’re saying about social media are similar things said in the past about radio, TV, the computer, etc. 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!). Why It’s Addictive: Over time, your brain gets used to the frequent rush of dopamine from social media activity. By changing those behaviors e. As a reminder, here are the rules of my dopamine fast: 1) No social media. I believe (I choose that word specifically) that audiobooks - especially combined with walking outside- are so very much more valuable that social media scrolling. I suggest you take a look into the father of "dopamine detox" Dr. Welcome to Dopamine Detoxing. As you accomplish this you will experience natural dopamine. I have done a dopamine detox, i have definitely reduced my screen time these past few months. After the 5 minutes the app closes. Reading is already quite different from 3D activities because you are staring at a flat surface and rehydrating the pictures. THis helps reset your dopamine levels back to normal, and will make you more sensitive to new forms of dopamine. Don’t use Tiktok, Facebook, Twitter, Snap, etc. 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. 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. I found I got caught in a loop of scrolling through junk. Is there an antidote to our addiction to social media? Yes, a timeout -- at least for Sometimes we scroll through social media because we want to feel close to friends. i will not 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 Yes it is beneficial to avoid social media if you spend too much time there, but this doesnt mean you detox your dopamine levels. Start by simply being aware of how much time you're spending on social media. I went as far as deleting all social media, (don’t consider Reddit social media). The whole idea is replacing bad dopamine-releasing habits (video games, porn, drugs, etc) with good dopamine-releasing habits (reading, exercise, real social interactions, etc). I agreed. **Substitute with Positive Digital Content**: Replace some social media time with educational content (but be careful that it's not just edutainment) 1. Not cutting out any dopamine related activity, as that’s ridiculous. I struggled with gaming & social media addiction as well. This can help reduce the habit of random checks. . Reddit is such a quick dopamine fix it's now harder to enjoy more engaging things longer. Everytime I want to use one it gives a pop up asking me if I want to use this app for 5 minuten. I don't know how to mitigate this. If you expose your brain to dopamine hits in that time period, you will kill your motivation and energy for the day and that's why you end up doom scrolling all day long. I have a focus mode on my phone. I need to feel at my absolute best in 24 hours from now for a presentation at work to the CFO that I was just notified about What would you recommend I do. The only real pseudoscience involved is the idea that you can fast from dopamine. It's an oversimplification, but the benefits are real and verifiable. These projects consume me, remove my urge to check social media and boost my self-esteem when completed. 102K subscribers in the neuro community. Not counting anti-social media i. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter, which helps with motivation, but is also used to measure the addictive potential of any behaviors or drugs. We have more experience navigating and managing our relationships with it than we do social media. For me, one way I’ve been able to minimize my time on reddit while also feeling like I’m getting value is reduce the amount of videos in your feed. I’ve pretty much completely quit most social media-I allow myself 5 minutes of Instagram a day on my laptop, and moderate it using the “Stayfocusd” extension and adhere to it very strictly. I am not glued to email or my phone for any reason but addiction. I’ll try to make the post as short as possible. Hello, we are H&B team. I try to delete the apps during the week. To tackle this challenge, there are two key ideas you need to understand. You need to "dopamine detox" in that you need to do a lot fewer high dopamine activities that are endless. It doesn’t even have to be social media. Going through a divorce and have been using social media to deal. - 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. /r/neuro, involving neuroscience: Discussion and news pertaining to neurobiology, cognitive studies… on the flip side, make it hard as hell to open social media. 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. Probably you smoke, this is also dopamine addiction. per my phone statistics, i spend approx 16 hours on these social media apps 馃檪 it's gotten to the point where i could be listening to a youtube video on my laptop while simultaneously scrolling through my Feb 10, 2024 路 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 Good thing about reddit (and other social medias to some extent) is you can curate what you are looking at. This includes YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, Discord, etc. I am currently in college and i need to interact with the internet but my attention span os awful. I use to be able to play chess for hours but i tried picking it up again because the dopamine from social media isn’t exactly neutral, social media apps want you to actually be addicted. Dec 1, 2024 路 I think I l’m doing this currently with social media without realising. Oct 29, 2021 路 Upon signing off, the brain is plunged into a dopamine-deficit state as it attempts to adapt to the unnaturally high levels of dopamine social media just released. Get the Reddit app Scan this QR code to download the app now. I’m 15 and I’m a football fan. I’ve worked in media and technology for most of my career but currently have a non-online job. 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. They run ads and in some cases follow pages for you. Or pick up chess. Some examples of high dopamine behaviors include: scrolling through social media websites, playing video games, watching internet pornography, etc. Social media is high reward and 0 effort, which kinda breaks the circuitry. Halfway through September I came back to Snapchat, instagram, and TikTok because I went to college. Do it gradually, one thing at a time. 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. My wife came to me and said she wants us to delete our facebooks and for me to stop playing games. It wasn’t perfect, but it worked better than anything else I’ve tried. I know that the idea of a dopamine detox it self is still a debated topic. 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 Title says it all. Eg 4hrs of reddit becomes 2. (mind you it would be like 4 days backpacking, 1 day back with social media, then repeat), so maybe just need uninterrupted time. Stay strong brothers and sisters!! Tell someone you want to stop gaming and social media and ask them to hold you accountable. But now I’m realizing that I’m using it exactly how I did before— to escape. Force yourself to do 30 minutes of whatever you consider to be your hardest task for the day. Deleting Social media was the best thing I’ve ever done, of course Reddit is a social media but I try to use it in helpful ways like asking question and searching answers to problems I have. I've been doing the same lately. This is a support group to help with impulsive behaviour towards Eating, Gaming, Gambling, Thrill, and Tech. It's pretty interesting that you'd mention manipulation because that's a central issue that The Social Dilemma explores. 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) So you take away the sources of this dopamine spike by deleting social media but unfortunately, your brain is still craving these quick dopamine surges, so it seeks it elsewhere. For example, you could allow yourself to watch one 30 minute documentary during your meals. The 'fast' dopamine release we get from things like scrolling on social media or binging on shows is vastly different from the more natural, gradual dopamine release we experience when participating in sports, engaging in social interactions, or immersing ourselves in a hobby. Reddit is a good example. A solution to this would be to call or text a friend to hang out, or to call a family member to catch up. Ive attempted to detox from social media before and it’s not something I’ve been able to consistently finish. not spending all your free time glued to your social media feed your dopamine levels naturally rise. 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. Social Media and Dopamine: When you use social media your brain releases dopamine. It doesn't attempt to meet the same needs as social media or a multi-function phone or game. Start with a Dopamine Detox, then maintain a Dopamine Fast. We will give out a step by step, informative guide on how to conquer our compulsion in just weeks. I think one of the issues with social media is social comparison and judgement. Understanding Dopamine: Dopamine is a chemical in your brain that plays a big role in feelings of pleasure and happiness. i'm resetting my habits and reducing dopamine overload. I’m getting increasingly jaded and demoralized the longer I stay on the internet. Help! Group for the discussion on the new emerging field of Neurophilosophy and of those working in this field ( Churchlands) , as well as on the intersections between neuroscience ,philosophy, behavior, and other related fields 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. 0 . We anticipate some sort of reward with each one of those behaviors. This where you shut of from external sources of dopamine / behaviours like social media by setting time slot in the day to when you can do them. Social media is making me an extremely angry person. The downside to dopamine, though, is clear: it can also generate undesirable addictions and cravings. 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. Rhonda Patrick here. However, there IS data supporting the idea that anticipation increases the pleasure you get from a reward. Jan 14, 2025 路 That first hour in the morning is critical. Here’s what helped: A 30-Day Detox: I started by cutting my screen time in half over the first two weeks.
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