Waiter! Can you bring me a Chicken Cordon Bleu with a side of smartphone please?
In our modern days, and specifically in the past 5-10 years, millions of people have been overwhelmed by a milieu of technological inventions. This has created a society with ample distractions, which affect their everyday lives. Most people do not realize it, but many of these technological advances like Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube or your iphone can be very addictive. How many times have you gone out with a friend or your spouse to a nice restaurant and you found yourself, or someone at the table, checking their smartphone multiple times?
The addiction that we all face is in part due to our constant seeking behavior and these platforms provide the perfect environment to get a multitude of small, but effective bursts of dopamine, and small rewards. It is like feeding children a small piece of candy every few minutes. If you put out a bowl filled with hundreds of skittles in front of a child, his initial response will be to eat as many as he can. However, in just a few minutes his pleasure systems will be satisfied, and he will no longer seek. On the other hand, you give that same child one skittle every 2 minutes and guess what the results will be? He will be begging for more and more skittles for the next hour! This is mainly due to small bursts of pleasure and a huge spike in seeking behavior, which is enough to keep him motivated and focused on that task for a much longer time. It is a never ending seeking-enjoyment loop.
This is the mere reason why it is so hard to put down that phone: we are iCRAVING. We crave texting, Facebook, and YouTube, because we are addicted to that small, but effective dopamine rush.
aDDICTIONS AND CREATIVITY
Addictions are all about feeding your cravings. The bad news is that, as almost everything we do in life, dopamine pleasure bursts lessen with time if an activity is persistent. How many times have you listened to your favorite song and eventually got sick of it? The same goes with an addiction to drugs. Initially, a small amount of it can bring lots of joy and euphoria, but after a while you need more and more to reach the same level of excitement.
Many people under the influence of drugs such as cocaine claim that they are more creative when under the influence. A dopamine rush can allow your mind to increase your focus on the task you are doing. This gives you a good reason to believe that drugs enhance your creativity or that creativity comes by reaching a different state of mind.
Image by Dr. Garcia-Fresco
Perreault Magazine / March 2014 19
Continued on page 20