Masters of Big Dopamine

Basically, the advertisements we see sell products which have hijacked our dopamine-reward circuits. The dopamine-reward circuit is a mechanism which all animals share. When they need food, or sex, or shelter, they notice familiar landmarks in the landscape which trigger Little Dopamine squirts in the brain. The dopamine feels good, and so they follow the pathways associated with the landmark until they get the matter they are looking for. Success brings on even more dopamine, reinforcing the behavior. The human race is so successful that dopamine has gotten big: Big Dopamine.

We like dopamine, and we like Big Dopamine even more. We are addicts. Certain drugs give us so much that we lose interest in anything else. But it doesn’t necessarily take drugs to hijack the dopamine-reward circuit. Shopping can do it. Gambling can do it. Sex can do it. Virtual reality is doing it. Alternative facts are doing it. Big Dopamine is out there for us and all we have to do is plug ourselves in. New technology continually captures our interest, developing a craving to participate in something new.

Is there a way out? Well, for one thing, Little Dopamine was here before Big Dopamine, and it is still around — we just don’t appreciate it anymore. We want a flood, but we only need a drip dopamine to free us from addiction.

Notice Little Dopamine again. Notice what is hidden in plain view. Little Dopamine sensibility is still in our DNA, waiting to be turned on. Turn it on!