How Overstimulation is Ruining Our Lives

The first step is to acknowledge and understand the problem, like my inability to write concise subtitles

Photo by Inspa Makers on Unsplash

🐵 2 Insights from yours truly

1. Have you ever wondered why we keep scrolling through Instagram for hours?
   
   It’s because the human brain didn't evolve as fast as society. Our brains are still wired like our ancestors', who got a dopamine spike from finding berries in a forest. Now, we get excited about a new cat video on YouTube.
   
   We live in a world of super stimuli designed to hijack our reward pathways and trick our brains into thinking we're doing something incredibly important.
   
   Spoiler Alert: watching idiots dance on TikTok are not a life or death situation.
   
   The reality is simple: Attention is the new gold, and everyone is mining it. So, don't be stupid and give yours for free mindless scrolling through memes all day.
   

2. What motivates us is this neurochemical called dopamine. Everyone online says dopamine is what gives us pleasure.
   
   WRONG. Kind of.
   
   Dopamine does something way more complex and important. It’s what makes us feel like we're about to hit the jackpot. Dopamine is what motivates us. When our ancestors saw berries, dopamine kicked in and said, "Grab that thing!"
   
   Now, it happens when you see a notification on your phone telling you that someone commented on your selfie "Nice pic!"
   
   We’re becoming slaves to our dopamine system. That’s why we binge on social media, hoping for a reward—and what do we get? A new crypto scam or, even worse, a motivational quote.
   
   Is there a way to stop this? More on that next week.

---

🌎 2 Things I “borrowed”

1. This data completely shocked me:
   “People use screens worldwide for an average of roughly 7 hours per day. 

   Daily screen time has increased by over 30 minutes per day since 2013.

   Almost half (49%) of 0 to 2-year-olds interact with smartphones.

   Gen Z averages around 9 hours of screen time per day”
   - Source
   

“If you remember nothing else from this episode, please remember this, that when you experience something or you crave something really desirable, really exciting to you, very pleasurable. What happens afterwards is your baseline level of dopamine drops. (…)

So these peaks in dopamine, they influence how much dopamine will generally be circulating afterward. And you might think, oh, a big peak in dopamine after that, I'm going to feel even better because I just had this great event. Not the case. What actually happens is that your baseline level of dopamine drops.”

- Dr. Andrew Huberman on this episode here explaining why you feel like a sack of potato after eating junk food or binge social media.

---

🤔 1 Thing for you to ponder

When was the last time you unplugged from everything? No phone, no laptop, no Netflix, just you and your thoughts?

So, how about this week you spend some time without the digital noise and see what you discover about yourself. Who knows, you might find inner peace or realize you’ve been ignoring that weird smell in your fridge. Either way, it's a win.

---

Thank you so much for reading.

I hope this helped you! See you next week.

Tchau! 👋