By JayDee Vykoukal
In September of 2024, researchers at the University of Central Florida ( UCF ) unveiled a rapid test sensor to detect dopamine in our system. The device will increase the detection of neurological diseases and cancers caused by too much or too little of this important brain chemical.
Dopamine is a neural transmitter that regulates feelings of reward or pleasure. The UCF team, led by Professor Debashis Chanda, developed an “integrated optical sensor” able to detect the important brain chemical from unprocessed blood.
The sensor uses a synthetic DNA strand, known as an aptamer, to identify the dopamine present in a person’s system.
Dopamine’s Role in Society
While this is good news for the neuroscience community, dopamine has had negative headlines of late. The neurochemical is an essential part of the human condition, though it also leads to forming habits — namely bad ones.
Dopamine plays a huge part in our brain development, not least when we display destructive, repeated behavior. In Atomic Habits, author James Clear gives a detailed breakdown of all the neuroscience involved in habit formation, or what he calls the “habit loop.”
How Habits Form
Within the habit loop, Clear lists three core elements:
Cue (The Trigger). Habit loops begin with a trigger for behavior: extrinsic or intrinsic signals that prompt a habitual response. Certain brain regions, like the basal ganglia, are where this interplay takes place.
Routine (The Behavior). The next part of a habit loop is when it becomes routine — our decision-making process carries out this stage, guided by the prefrontal cortex. Routines will embed as neural pathways become active; these strengthen through a reaction known as long-term potentiation (LTP).
Reward (The Reinforcement). Finally, dopamine gets to work in the reward phase, where the routine culminates. Dopamine governs how we feel rewarded, bolstering the habit loop and ensuring repeated behavior in the future.
Distraction vs. Entertainment
American cultural polemicist and music historian Ted Gioia likes to use the term “dopamine culture” to portray his worldview. His essay, “The State of the Culture, 2024,” published earlier this year, reads like a societal eulogy.
Gioia believes we are seeing a “post-entertainment culture” emerge from the ashes of its previous glory. In his opinion, distraction has now taken over from arts and entertainment, and the distraction industry is here to stay.
“This is more than just the hot trend of 2024,” writes Gioia. “It can last forever — because it’s based on body chemistry, not fashion or aesthetics.
Where in the past, the emphasis was on keeping people awed or entertained, the present points to a new goal — addiction. “Everything is designed to lock users into an addictive cycle,” writes Gioia. “This is present in everyday life, not least our cell phones.”
Fishing for Users
While social media platforms fish for more subscribers, the psychological methods they use are what keep users hooked. The International Journal of Environmental Science and Public Health published a 2019 study on modern tech’s addictive features.
The study points to how the exchange of personal data fuels a string of measures used within “Freemium” online games and social media apps. Researchers analyzed “several prominent smartphone apps” to uncover these methods.
Addictive by Design
Scientists highlighted at least six different mechanisms used in prevailing smartphone app development, with some classic psychological/economic theories present:
— Endless scrolling. Once a video or post has finished, something similar appears underneath, tempting the user with more content.
— Social comparison and social reward, which usually means a “like” on a social media post;
— The endowment effect — or our hard-wired tendency to give personal belongings higher value than others. Once an app user has built a profile, added their preferences, and attached meaningful posts, they will be less likely to discard the app.
— The mere-exposure effect, which is a form of cognitive bias in which people indicate a preference for something they find familiar; Social pressure. In apps like WhatsApp, the sender will see two gray ticks appear under a message they sent. These ticks turn blue when the recipient reads the message, putting them on a perceived time trial for responding.
— The Zeigarnik effect refers to the human ability to remember unfinished tasks. This technique is especially powerful on social media platforms, where messaging or commenting makes up most of the activity.
At the very least, apps’ success relies on showing users what they like to see. One example of this is a personalized news feed catering to a singular worldview. Algorithms reward the user with similar content to what they’ve seen before. This maneuver makes them feel more connected to their app and less inclined to switch off.
Childhood Habits Have Become Untenable
Social psychologist and author Jonathan Heidt has studied the phenomenon of smartphone technology and behavior extensively. In an Atlantic article titled “End the Phone-Based Childhood Now,” Heidt outlines how smartphones have laid waste to America’s youth.
He cites one overwhelming consequence of teenage smartphone addiction: a precipitous rise in depression and anxiety. Suicide rates in American adolescents aged between 10 and 19 went up by half between 2010 and 2019. Just for girls between 10 and 14 years, the rate increased a shocking 131%.
Falling Grades and Rising Depression
Other implications include surging rates of isolation and a decline in academic achievement. All of these changes came when social media platforms were emerging into everyday life. What’s perhaps most startling is how both teen suicide rates and academic prowess were improving through the 2000s in America.
The Nation’s Report Card published U.S. reading and math scores over the past few decades, cementing Heidt’s concerns. Both scores peaked in 2012, though they have each fallen in the years since. Clearly, bad habits are taking over in age groups where they shouldn’t be.
The modern era is now rife with dopamine-inducing temptations wherever one turns. Ads for food and cookery influencers create content that might elicit binge eating. Moreover, news and short-form video platforms like YouTube Shorts allow vicarious — and often negative — viewing experiences, prompting unhealthy doom-scrolling.
Rewiring the Habit Loop
Of course, there is much conversation on this matter, with terminology to match. University of California, San Francisco Medical School professor Dr. Cameron Sepah is responsible for the term “dopamine fasting.”
Sepah writes on his LinkedIn page how his “Dopamine Fasting 2.0” is an “evidence-based technique to manage addictive behaviors, by restricting them to specific periods of time…” His objective is for people to “regain behavioral flexibility” by fasting from impulsive choices.
Fighting the Urge
The method is a cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) driven process he calls “stimulus control.” Putting one’s phone away is the first step, followed by finding a less sedentary alternative to combat the urge to retrieve it. Finally, blocking the apps, platforms, or video games causing the problem is another suggested measure.
Sepah also recommends “urge surfing,” wherein one reflects on the desire to repeat the habit in question, watching it “come and go.” By training oneself to understand why negative impulses occur, Sepah believes people can help weaken habituation, replacing bad habits with good ones.
JayDeeVykoukal is the author of this article, a Doctor of Physical Therapy, a travel enthusiast, and a mom of two girls. Having completed her Doctorate of Physical Therapy at the University of Montana in 2013, Jay Dee has sought to combine her passion for health and wellness with her love for traveling and writing. She is an avid traveler who has visited over 30 countries.
Jay Dee’s writing reflects her diverse passions for physical therapy, holistic health, travel, and parenting. She writes about everything from tips on injury prevention to gardening, science facts, and fun places to visit around the globe with children in tow. Jay Dee hopes to share her knowledge with others through her books and blogs so they can live happier, more meaningful, and healthier lives.
