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Dopamine Fasting

nytimes.com

131–137 of 137 posts

Re: Dopamine Fasting

#131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find that graph of media consumption outrageously hard to believe. The average person spends 11 out of 24 hours every day consuming media? People average 4 hours a day watching TV and 1.75 hours a day listening to the radio?

Instagram/reddit/Snapchat/tik tok/forwarded whatsapp videos/hacker news/audio books/music are all media. And with a device that enables 24/7 consumption literally on a person 24/7, I don’t doubt it.

If you look at the graph, internet usage is a relatively small percentage of media usage. TV + Radio have roughly 2x the consumption of internet based media according to that graph. Which strikes me as odd, although the idea of people in transportation skewing the radio numbers is interesting

Re: Dopamine Fasting

#132
post #65

Yay nihilism. /s You can ascribe nearly anything to pleasure and dopamine. Never mind that a lot of people are addicted to facebook content partly because it generates a negative feeling.

Weird to associate nihilism with something that the article compares to religious practice, which is emphatically not nihilistic.

Part of it's title is 'How to feel nothing now'. It is aiming at gaining a new life from nihilism. It has little to do with religion, that is the framework for the process of heading towards nothing.

It has the same quality of mind emptying meditation that you can get from a Sam Harris workshop. It is fundamentally opposite from being on top of the world, having everything in order. It instead encourages you to clear out a valuable part of your life and society as if exiting downwards is productive.

The article is on point for current trends, clear the air to let in the water gods. It's predictable.

Re: Dopamine Fasting

#133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm currently traveling in Asia and it's jarring to see the number of people sitting idly, watching some random YouTube videos or Facebooking to pass the time. Why is it jarring?

Because there's an actual real world, with real people around us that we could be interacting with, rather than staring at a smartphone screen?

Why is it jarring to see in Asia, as opposed to everywhere else?

Re: Dopamine Fasting

#134
post #44
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is something I came to slowly realize in the search for repairing my attention/depression issues. So far I've been getting good results. It started with giving up amphetamines (adderall, vyvanse), when that didn't do the trick, I removed alcohol and caffiene from my diet. The benefits I experienced led to stop smoking marijuana as well. That one was the toughest to give up, the anhedonia was torturous. It was li…

Do intense physical exercise, that’s the missing link in your plan. You’ve got basically all the other key parts in place.

Start with walking and fast-walking in bursts.

Re: Dopamine Fasting

#135
So let me get this straight. People do a dopamine fast by avoiding anything that would be considered fun and enjoyable so that they can be completely rested and enjoy work more? Sounds like a bad trade off. We should probably just work less.

Re: Dopamine Fasting

#136
post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've only seen it as a gendered slur used condescendingly to silence and shame men, as your post did.

How did his post shame men?

Somehow people who think "toxic masculinity" is a man-hating slur tend to miss the fact that I may be a man (I am, btw).

I don't "hate men" either. I neither hate myself nor do I hate other men for being men. I do however hate that some people (including men) have very harmful ideas about what it means to be a man and that they mock and bully men and boys who don't conform to these ideas for "not being real men".

Re: Dopamine Fasting

#137
post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I share a similar perspective. I often wonder how much more creative and productive we'd be if video games suddenly disappeared, or if by magic, the internet shut off at 8pm every night. I've observed that when the internet has gone down, or I've been unable to play videogames, I'm more likely to fill the downtime with building things.

The internet is crucial for many people to be productive. If by "internet" you meant "fscebook, twitter, Instagram and the like", you already see the problem. I'd say that delaying gratification somewhat is key. If you stop the internal monkey from getting its immediate hit of dopamine, and get the conscious part of you involved, you can be productive and enjoy it.

Maybe we assume that the internet is crucial to be productive (personally), but it might not be necessary. Productivity isn't just about checking tasks.

I mean, how mAny individual creative action require to be online once you chose tools that don't require it?

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