The Danger of Discount Dopamine
“It is the nature of the wise to resist pleasures, but of the foolish to be a slave to them.” - Epictetus
Dopamine is a hot topic lately among self-development circles, and justifiably so. If you’re interested in a thorough examination of what it is, and how it works within the body, medical literature like this is readily available. In short, it’s sometimes referred to as the “feel good” hormone because it stimulates the feeling we recognize as pleasure.
Dopamine has been shown to be nothing short of essential for our well-being: it drives many of our behaviors, assists in the creation of habits, and is among the more literal answers you could give if asked, ‘What gets you out of bed in the morning?’ It’s critical for our learning and memory, and motivates us to do things like eat, play, and pet puppies. Conversely, if dopamine levels drop too low, a person will exhibit total disinterest in any sort of activity. Charles Duhigg’s book Smarter Faster Better shares examples of several individuals who suffered injuries that resulted in dopamine deficiencies, and the effects were shocking.
All this to say, dopamine is critical to our well-being and productivity. But just because it makes us feel great and is essential for our health, as with anything else in life, we must be careful not to overdo it.
Dopamine hits can be stimulated by a huge variety of triggers: exercising, reading, hearing a joke, watching TV, sleeping, listening to music, kissing - the list goes on. And our brains use the great feelings produced by dopamine to incentivize our bodies to perform the same behaviors that trigger the pleasure hormone. For example, scientists suggest that sex produces a particularly strong hit of dopamine to incentivize reproduction. It shouldn’t come as a surprise then that dopamine is also a key factor in addictions, which form when dopamine-inducing behavior persists until the craving for the reward becomes more powerful than the willpower to refuse it. Cocaine is one of the most addictive substances in the world, and is said to be able to form an addiction in some instances by only a single use, due to the astronomical levels of dopamine it elicits.
So on one hand, healthy habits like exercise, going for a walk, and learning something new can stimulate dopamine, but far less-healthy pursuits like smoking, junk food, and pornography can deliver the same good sensations.
When we recognize that several options exist to attain a desired outcome, and the ends are perceived to be equal regardless of the means, our brains are wired to steer us in the shortest route possible, because expending less energy and saving time historically made survival more likely. However, things have changed quite drastically in recent history, and today instead of having to work hard for interspaced hits of dopamine, it’s very easy to line up an entire day’s worth of sustained dopamine. And our brains love it. When we binge-watch Netflix with a burger and a pint of ice cream, our dopamine is through the roof - after all, it’s calories and entertainment without the slightest effort expended. What’s not to love?
Over time though, our brains become accustomed to the minimal levels of effort required to attain the dopamine we crave, and so we’re motivated to continue seeking out the easiest and fastest ways to maximize pleasure. Instead of having to harvest the field, hunt the prey, and cook it all up, you can just stop by McDonald’s to satisfy your hunger; you no longer have to get married or even go on a date - the internet can provide all the sexual satisfaction you need. A single weekend can provide more dopamine now than would’ve been possible in a year for past generations.
There are several problems with “discount dopamine” - that is, pleasure received in exchange for nearly no effort. If we indulge in too much discount dopamine, it’s easy to become accustomed to a certain level of stimulation, to the point where the moment the pleasure is interrupted, we begin to panic. If there’s a pause in the pleasure we’ve gotten used to, our brains behave similarly to a spoiled child being told “no” for the first time: we want our dopamine, and we want it now. This is evident in our heavy reliance upon amusement in any moment of quiet: the instant we’re alone or not stimulated by the world around us, we check our phones. At home, we turn on the TV to drown out the silence. Our grandparents had a positive relationship with monotony, because even when they were bored, they enjoyed the peace and life itself was interesting enough. They didn’t need to be constantly stimulated by external sources. However, today we’re so dependent upon the constant stream of dopamine that every second must be filled with entertainment to sedate our restless minds. It’s very difficult, once you’re used to a certain level of dopamine, to be satisfied with less.
We also reduce our own contributions to the world when we opt for empty pleasure over worthwhile, healthy sources of enjoyment. It’s much easier to listen to music than it is to compose, but imagine how dull the world might be if Chopin and Beethoven had iPods. Human nature is characterized by curiosity and creativity, but our desire to learn and produce is extinguished when we become preoccupied with synthetic satisfaction. Would you go to work if you knew you’d receive a paycheck regardless? Of course not; so the value you contribute in your job would disappear, and if everyone did the same, society would disintegrate quite rapidly. Not to say that our humanity hasn’t begun to crumble in some ways, due to our increasing hunger for stimulation alongside our decreasing willingness to work for it.
By pursuing easy sources of empty pleasure, we reinforce the preference of these avenues in our minds. Worse, we reassure ourselves that our vices are harmless - we tell ourselves, “just because I can’t function in the morning without a cup of coffee, doesn’t mean I’m addicted.” In truth, though, we can easily become slaves to our dependence upon these dopamine sources, and we can quickly lose ourselves in pursuit of cheap, empty, fleeting pleasure.
Developing ourselves into better individuals means identifying the ways in which we’re settling for “discount dopamine” and weaning ourselves off of that dependence in favor of healthier, more valuable sources of satisfaction. Learning to cook a healthy dinner at home produces far greater satisfaction than going out for fast food, interaction with another human being will excite you exponentially more than browsing social media, and learning something new instead of watching mindless TV will provide immense self-esteem. Over time, as you transfer your attention from quick and easy hits to proper avenues of dopamine, you’ll find that the reward is so much greater as a result of hard work than taking the shortcut every time.