MrPaul
✧✦Catherine✦✧i feel that when people talk about social media, phones, and other technologies being harmful because of dopamine something, this is done in part to avoid looking at the needs that are filled by their use
"dopamine" as a thought terminating concept
why am i scrolling twitter?
- i miss my friends. i want to know what my friends are up to
- self harm
- i'm avoiding something that gives me anxiety by going to a place that causes me different anxiety
- tired and this is the nearest thing i could grab
- wondering what is everyone talking about
... etc
these are *needs* and *wants*, real things that do something for me
pop-psych "dopamine" isn't a real thing
Lona@whitequark Self harm part kinda resonates. Can't help but go through all the terf replies.
@Lona for me it varies from nonexistent to really heavy
have you, uh, considered not doing that
@whitequark I have. There is a degree of stuck-ness to it. At some point i stop opening new tabs and eventually run out of threads.
Ursidinoj/The Bjornsdottirs
Ignas Kiela@whitequark work should be viewed as a delayed dopamine release mechanism by these people
@ignaloidas this sounds like something they would say
@whitequark idk, if we're talking about the same "dopamine detox" crowd, I feel like this would be essentially an antithesis for what they advocate.
@ignaloidas i have to admit i group everyone who uses the word "dopamine" in an unphysiological way into the same group
Timo the timo@whitequark "i must not scroll. dopamine is the mind-killer. dopamine is the little-death that brings total obliteration..."
9th level spell slut@whitequark i remember seeing something described as "causing the brain to produce dopamine, the same chemical responsible for drug addiction" or something along those lines
Saphire LatticeOh god I forgot about that
I remember seeing people talk about "welcome to mastodon, time to unlearn twitter stuff" or calling it "addiction" or such...
But the thing that had me begging people to stop and think over what they are saying is when they started to compare it to drugs in a generic way... or in an overt and direct way.
This does not explain anything and it just piggybacks off the "drugs bad, drugs scary, drugs addict, avoid them and anyone who uses them"...
Feminjawze@whitequark what bothers me is how rarely the notion is challenged that relationships with such things are necessarily and irrevocably unhealthy ones. i've often had to go through a phase of an unhealthy relationship with something before i learn how to form a healthy one, but that does happen. sometimes i've gotten lucky and formed a healthy one, to begin with, with something many develop harmful ones with.
there are always growing pains, but also capitalism's toxicity breeds a lot of the worst
there are always growing pains, but also capitalism's toxicity breeds a lot of the worst
@ze oh yeah. there's many layers to it; i've attacked one
spherulitic@whitequark “it’s really terrible how many people are using their phones for momentary escape from our soul-crushing late capitalist dystopia.”
You’re halfway there, Chester.
“We definitely need to regulate phone use.”
So close, yet so far.