Do those who chase after excitement experience the least of it in the long run?
If we are to be honest with ourselves, most of us would admit that we are addicted to our cell phones. For every aspect of our phones are scientifically engineered to steal away our attention and invite greater rushes of excitement into our lives.
And just like a drug, the phone is meant to trigger spikes of dopamine levels in our brain. This chemical hormone stimulates the feeling of excitement and bliss. But just like any other addictive substance, the more we use our phones, the more our bodies develop a tolerance towards those elevated dopamine levels.
And the prolonged exposure to this hormone actually desensitizing us to the effects of dopamine. To keep ourselves feeling excited, we have to use our phones for longer periods of time and search for even more stimulating content or activity. Therefore we need more and more dopamine injected into our system, before we can feel excited again.
But this endless chase after an ever-increasing threshold of excitement and happiness in our lives, may unintentionally cause us to lose our ability to experience and appreciate the everyday and ordinary pleasures that are normally found throughout our day. Activities such as: reading a book, going for a walk, or enjoying a hot bath normally are very enjoyable and rewarding tasks. But if our brains are already drenched in extremely high levels of dopamine, then we will run the risk of being completely numb to these less intense experiences.
Therefore, if we have the courage to put down our phones for longer periods of time, we may discover that resetting our dopamine levels and our sensitivity to it may actually lead us to enjoy more of life’s everyday pleasures.
