Hey everyone,
I apologize if this isn't the right subreddit to post this in, but I had a feeling the people here might be open to discussion of this. Modern society looks pretty much like: be advertised to, work hard to get money, purchase stuff from advertisements, use stuff from advertisements, see new advertisements, work hard to get more money, purchase more stuff from advertisements, and so on. Obviously, this has an effect on the brain, but I'm wanting to delve a little deeper into this cultural norm. The average American's day looks like: wake up, check phone, browse social media/internet/news, drink caffeinated beverage (usually with sugar), listen to the radio and/or more news while driving to work, be unhappy at work while sneaking phone checks, take a break and eat fast food with another sugary caffeinated beverage, drive home, binge TV/video games/internet/social media for the rest of the night while most likely drinking/smoking/watching porn/your choice of vice.
What I'm wondering about are the chemicals occurring in the brain during this typical Western routine. I'm no neuroscientist, but I know dopamine is the chemical in the brain that helps you to learn a pleasurable reward is coming, and then there are other chemicals and hormones that allow you to feel the pleasure of said reward. If this process is being constantly exploited and stimulated in order to a) sell things and b) give humans constant entertainment and pleasure, is it possible that we've become addicted to the external situations and gadgets that result in these chemical releases? Even if you can't become addicted to dopamine or serotonin or hormones in the brain themselves, we know you can (and often do) become addicted to substances and activities that target these chemicals. Why would our modern technology be any different from substances? Very few people think alcohol itself is bad. Most people just think alcoholism is bad. Perhaps it's not that technology is "bad" so much as it's just a new potentially addictive substance. If we are constantly seeking the gratification and chemical rush of video games, television, social media, pornography, text notifications, etc, combined with the chemical rush from substances many of us daily use like caffeine, sugar, or weed, combined with the chemical rush we get from consumerism... isn't this a recipe for constant withdrawal symptoms? I mean, think about it. A person who drinks too much alcohol a day, let's say, someone who has 6 drinks every night, is considered an alcoholic. This interrupts their life HEAVILY, affecting their relationships, work, and personal ability to feel fulfillment and joy when not drinking. The alcoholic doesn't want to do anything that doesn't allow them to drink, and when they have to, all they're doing is feeling withdrawal symptoms and counting down the minutes until they can get their hands on the bottle again. How is this any different from our modern culture? We spend all of our nights binging various things that provide dopamine/hormonal rushes, and then when we have to step away from these rushes, we're surprised that we feel unfulfilled and agitated. Depression and anxiety have long been known side-effects of withdrawal from addictive substances, even temporary withdrawal, such as not having the substance while at work or for just a few hours. The average alcoholic can't imagine going a day without drinking, and even when they try, often find it too difficult to stick out. Compare this with the average citizen trying to go a day without any of their typical dopamine-rush activities. Imagine the average American going an entire day without caffeine, fast food, television, social media, internet, their smartphone, or any form of consuming. It's almost impossible in practice. They would likely sit on the couch or take a walk, maybe make it a couple of hours, and promptly go back to their computer, television, gaming console, or local shopping outlet. I'd also like to add that for a typical alcoholic, they often don't feel good even while drinking. They tend to feel depressed and anxious while drinking, but even worse when not drinking, hence the inability to get away from it despite the fact that they know it's making them unhappy and unfulfilled. Humans (and animals) have always been prone to addiction and conditioning, and we know the side-effects of addiction to be unhappiness, depression, anxiety, inability to separate from the source of addiction, lessened ability to feel pleasure, and a generally lower mood than before they were addicted. Their tolerance to the addictive thing is also affected, often requiring more and more or intake of their addictive substance/activity.
Is it possible that the rise in depression and anxiety (and yes, we have been seeing a rise, not just in reporting but in depression and anxiety rates themselves) are due, at least for some portion of the population, to the modern addiction/withdrawal cycle we almost all experience on a day-to-day basis? And if so... what do we do about this, knowing that modern progress has been almost entirely based around generating and using these brain chemicals to feel good? When we're talking about true addiction, which I believe we are, I'm afraid "moderation and self-control" are too simplistic. It's unlikely that telling an alcoholic, or even someone with a predisposition toward alcoholism, to just "control" his intake more will actually change anything. The whole issue with addiction is that it often feels out of control for the addict. If we are essentially a bunch of addicts walking around, and if our culture has created this addiction-fueled human amusement park... what can we do to combat it while remaining a member of said society? I don't necessarily believe we knew the effects of what we were creating. I think we did what humans always do-- we sought pleasure. People want to feel good. So, they invest in and create things that will enable them to tap into this feeling well. The problem is, most of the time, whatever they've created to feel good generally has an addictive quality because it almost always fucks with brain chemicals and the motivation/reward-center in the brain.
I'd also like to add that even rumination, the tendency to repetitively think about the causes, situational factors, and consequences of one's negative emotional experience (Nolen-Hoeksema, 1991), is often a form of addictive thinking-- and this is another potential cause for depression and anxiety, but again goes back to the same issue of addiction. We see rumination increasing in modern society, especially with more free time, the increase in intelligence and abstract thinking, and less time dedicated to fighting for survival. I wonder if humans are actually struggling with addiction more now than ever, just to more varying substances/activities/habits, because we've never really learned how to handle or prevent addiction and yet we've continued to create a society in which the risk factors for addiction appear to be rampant.
Thanks for reading, and can't wait to hear your opinions and comments.
EDIT: Just for clarification, I want to add, I am not in any way saying depression and anxiety can't be caused by other factors. Only that I wonder if some cases, or even in many cases, depression and anxiety could be tied back to this theory and vice versa. Perhaps people are anxious and depressed because of a lack of natural/tribal living, turn to addiction unintentionally because of this anxiety and depression, which ultimately makes them more anxious and depressed, and so on the cycle continues.
Submitted November 15, 2018 at 03:21PM by coffee_talks https://ift.tt/2B9ksZb
