Why is it that we don’t find our lives interesting and are continuously dissatisfied with what we have? We seek pleasure outside in order to be occupied with what we are doing or to appear to be occupied with something.
We are constantly surrounded by screens. During this epidemic, we’ve largely seen extreme cases where individuals have been working from home, and there’s been a rise in mental health difficulties as we’ve been exposed to so many negative things. We’ll look at how overstimulation of these delights is affecting our lives in this post.
Extreme dopamine release
Consider the following scenario. What do you do first now that you’ve finished all of your work for the day and we have some time before dinner? You see your phone and pick it up to surf through social media or watch some random YouTube videos that were recommended to you. Another possibility is that you turn on your television and watch some sitcoms.
So why do we do these things as soon as we get home from work? The answer is that we have been subjected to a lot of stimuli. We get a dopamine rush when we see something enticing or intriguing, and our brain encourages us to do it again so we can feel the same way.
It also applies to junk food; after you’ve eaten it, you’ll find it more appealing than salads or leafy vegetables. Also, the colorful and gleaming pictures on the chips packets make the junk food packets quite appealing. This keeps happening whenever you feel like there’s nothing else to do.
Your brain is rewired to that experience you experienced when you stayed up all night watching TV, and you unconsciously return to it.
There’s no room for boredom here.
Assume you and a friend agreed to meet in a café. You arrive at the café before your friend, and he calls you to say he will be 5 minutes late. You’ll be browsing through your phone as soon as the call ends, and you’ll keep doing so until your friend arrives.
The problem is that we are so aroused by these screens and devices that anytime we have free time, we take these rectangles out of our pockets and focus on something else.
So our brain has never experienced boredom because we are always “busy” with something in front of our face every time we are awake. So whenever you find these moments where there is no need to get engrossed in the devices, try to avoid these mental candies and accept some boredom. It’s weird but it is necessary because we are getting too much into the super-normal stimuli.
We need to bring our mind back to normal stimuli where the dopamine hits and you feel amazed and not neutral after the dopamine hit.
Bonding
Nowadays, we bond more with our social media buddies than we do with our real-life pals. In comparison to our forefathers, our brains haven’t evolved all that much. However, the world around us has flipped on its head.
When we see an animal or something new, we still experience the same reaction that our stone-age forefathers did.
When we notice something interesting, we are stimulated to investigate it further, but once we have done so, we are no longer interested. Because of the internet, we can interact with individuals all over the world in the contemporary age, yet it turns out that our bonding has suffered greatly. Instead of building relationships online, we should aim to do so offline.
We have overloaded our thoughts with an excessively hefty burden of stimulus, causing our mental ability to enjoy things to become confused. We have lost patience and have created a world where you can obtain everything you want without putting up much effort.
We’re always being overstimulated.
The fact that we no longer have to work hard to do anything is the main cause of our overstimulated world problems.
On a Friday night, there’s no use in going on dates and meeting new people when we can just swipe left or right. Alternatively, when we can have any type of meal brought to us hot and fresh directly to our home.
As a result, our senses are constantly being aroused with artificial rewards.
Your brain is being overstimulated by social media.
Social media is a wonderful example of overstimulation.
When someone likes your Instagram snap, your body releases dopamine, which makes you feel happy.
As you continue to release dopamine, your brain will encourage you to perform additional things, such as a post on Instagram Story, in order to reactivate the neurotransmitters.
After a while, you’ll find yourself in a positive feedback loop where you’re no longer motivated by the pleasure of using social media. Instead, you continue to satisfy your dopamine cravings.
You become a prisoner to your own dopamine system in this way.
Overstimulation can be reduced by breaking harmful behaviors.
We seek out stimulating activities in life because we believe they will make us happier.
Our hazy understanding of what happiness entails drives us to eat three Big Macs only to despise ourselves the next day, or binge watch Netflix only to feel bad for squandering a whole day.
Instead, we might discover contentment with what we already have to break free from our negative patterns.
Meditation can help you focus on the present moment by slowing down your overstimulated brain.
We’re frequently reminded that our responsibility is to make the most of our short time on this planet. We use phrases like yolo to explain doing crazy but pointless things. This is essentially the polar opposite of how life works.
Later on, you’ll notice that participating more deeply in these dull periods gives you greater satisfaction and makes you feel more alive.
