Social Media: Dopaminergic vs Serotonergic Use
I commute a lot. No car is a choice and a necessity for me. As cellphone and social media users, I see ourselves becoming like a dog digging for a bone. We dig, dig, dig, and dig again without interaction of any kind for a reward that may come after a while from the pages we follow and the ones we consider our gurus. That is the way the social media algorithm works. And it works very well.
After a time off the web, scrolling through our multiple social media accounts and finding something we like or consider interesting, can be rewarding and dopaminergic: we feel we are pursuing something and on the right track.
But the way we use our socials is leading us towards a serotonergic behavior instead: we feel satisfied. We move towards a lack of appetite, and lack of interest in human engagement. The result is an obsessive and compulsive behavior toward what is not even interesting to us. And we keep scrolling through no-sense pages or topics that won’t nurture our souls.
Social Media: Dopaminergic vs Serotonergic Use. How to shift?
We do not want to be like the dog. How can we shift from the serotonergic to a dopaminergic effect? A way can be applying a methodic use of the web to quench the desire to know and soften it with the awareness that the biggest teacher is the “one” within ourselves. Checking that we are “at home” continuously and “come back home” every time we feel we are looking for outer stuff and the serotonergic effect kicking in, is the way.
How can we cultivate that? With presence. Again, presence is our friend in every situation.
Be smart, choose, and do not let the net control you.
Sasy