Did You Know? Dopamine

Technology and pleasure… The use of technology can tire out the brain’s pleasure center…

Dopamine is the neurotransmitter released in response to pleasure or excitement. When we absorb constant alerts and stimulation from texts, video images and video games, the brain’s pleasure center gets hyper-stimulated by dopamine. This overstimulation can make our pleasure centers less reactive to other agreeable experiences. As a consequence, some people get obsessed by these pleasurable online experiences. They adopt compulsive behavior, like constantly checking their emails, or endlessly playing online games. Problem gambling can often be traced back to dopamine.

Neuroscientists have also discovered that it’s the unpredictability of winning big rewards that stimulate the release of dopamine, which lures players back again and again to play or even gamble.   

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