Dopamine Detox: Is worth doing?? Or a Silicon valley trend

The word Dopamine detox is getting trend in the Silicon Valley and people are responding and following this new type of fasting. But do you know what does it mean? 

First of all, What is meant by Dopamine?

Dopamine is a chemical in the brain that is responsible for the feeling of satisfaction or after we've completed an important task, completed a project, reaches a goal or even reached one our markers towards our goal.

As we get closer towards our goals, our metric tells us that we're making progress and we get another little hit of dopamine to keep us going. Then finally we reach our goal that intense feeling of "got it" is a big hit of Dopamine for all our hard work.

 As we get closer to our goals our metric tells us that we're making progress and we get another little hit of dopamine to keep us going.

For example: A marathon runner who passes each mile toward the finish line his body rewards him with dopamine so that he will keep going, working even harder to reach that huge pot of dopamine. That big feeling of accomplishment at the end. This is why it feels so good to work on something that is difficult.

Dopamine is also highly, highly addictive. As helpful as it is, we can also form neural connections that do not help us survive- in fact, they do the complete opposite. Cocaine, nicotine, alcohol and gambling all release dopamine. The only behaviour that is reinforced that gives us just the next hit of dopamine. There is an another thing to add..

Social media texting, e-mail, the number of likes we collect, the ding, the buzz or the flash of our phones that tells us "You've got 70 likes", feels amazing. As it should. We have associated the dopamine releasing feeling of "ooh, something for me"

 Yes it's true we hate all that e-mail, but this is true we live for the ding, the buzz or the flash that tells us something's there. Some of us (including me) have formed neural connections that drives us to carry out phone all the times, often looking down and refreshing a few times even though nothing has come in.

There is a reason why our brain can become so dependent on dopamine. Once it develops tolerance, it requires more and more dopamine, and normal tasks become difficult to complete.

Now you had a clear idea about what is Dopamine let's move to the Dopamine Detox

Many people misunderstood Dopamine Detox as something that they should get rid of all the activities that gives them dopamine. But a person who is in a dopamine fasting should not get rid of his good habits that brings him dopamine like swimming, cycling, exercising etc.

But our generation should follow this new type of detox known as digital detox. 

Digital detox can be defined as to take a break from using electronic devices for a certain period of time.

Detoxing from our digital devices is often seen as a way to focus on real life problems and to become a socialistic person. Don't get it wrong iam just telling to focus on important things on your mobile rather than watching reels, movies and anything that is unimportant in your life. 

And by practicing digital detox we can come also out of this attention economy. 

3 Things people should avoid when they are in digital detox.

1. Playing video games
2. Checking messages often
3. Scrolling social media

To know about Attention Economy click the link