By Asfandyar Suleri, Westminster Academy, Islamabad
“Dopamine loop”, An extremely widespread issue, well known but often disregarded, is seen in not only children, but in teens and adults aswell. Dopamine loop, means to waste precious time and energy on short-format videos on social media platforms (better known as reels). Studies shows that the average person spends about 2.5-3 hours on social media; a large part of the time is spent on “reels”. Instagram reels, tiktok, and other similar platforms are literally designed to keep us trapped in the endless loop of scrolling.
Each new video containing a subject similar to the ones watched before; a loop that meets no end, and “fries your brain” every second invested in it. Psychologists refer to this as “the dopamine loop” where the brain is always craving the quick pleasure these videos gives it.
A common misconception is that, “Only teenagers are affected by it because they’re on their phones all the time” that might be true, but, it is an incomplete statement. Adults and middle aged people, are a part of the affected portion aswell (so when parents make a claim similar to that, they should know they’re more vulnerable to being a victim). Middle aged people are often the most vulnerable ones to fall for this issue; simply because they’re age restricts them from seeking most sources of dopamine that younger people can, such as: sports, quality sleep, regular exercise, etc. If someone can not perform the activities listed, they can try other sources of dopamine which include: reading, a proper healthy diet, light exercise, sunlight exposure. It’s the first step that is the hardest to take. The short-duration videos might give the short-term
impression of pleasure; in the long-term though, all it does is it makes you more and more addicted to it. The brain becomes ‘fried’ meaning, any video that has a duration which exceeds 45 seconds becomes unbearable to watch; your attention span gets that messed up. And slowly it becomes so bad that even if you realize, it becomes extremely hard to stop scrolling through reels out of habit.
Protect yourselves and the ones you care about; take a step to prevent it before it’s too late to go back. Stop being under the dopamine loop’s trap, start bringing healthy habits in your routine. Protect your mental health and stop wasting your time.
#DopamineLoop #MentalHealth #Neurotransmitters #Addiction #Motivation #BrainChemistry #Psychology #Wellness #SelfImprovement #DopamineEffects
