Smartphones make us Fat, Lazy, Horny, Bankrupt Druggies

[Rob]

I was listening in on a Twitter debate surrounding what Silicon Valley calls "Dopamine Fasting 2.0"- the average person calls it "life balance". The idea is that many compulsive and obsessive behaviors that you wish you could stop are instigated and promoted by excessive use of smartphones and other digital technology. Having a set schedule or plan to limit your time or interaction with these devices can improve your own perception of your life, assumingly leading to greater happiness.

The original article on the subject identifies the most common behavioral addictions targeted by "Dopamine Fasting":

1. Emotional Eating (Fat)
2. Internet/Gaming (Lazy)
3. Porn/Masturbation (Horny)
4. Gambling/Shopping (Bankrupt)
5. Thrill/Novelty Seeking (Cheap)
6. Recreational Drugs (Druggies)

The whole "Dopamine" debate took center stage when Congress pestered Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg about rigging the Facebook news feed algorithm to maximize dopamine output back in 2018. It's now 2020... what's changed?

That's a great question and I'm not sure there is a correct answer, so I pose the questions to you:

• Do you feel "smartphone addiction" is a real thing?
• Do you find yourself addicted to any degree?
• Can you get behind the science of "Dopamine Fasting"?
• What are your plans in 2020 to pursue digital balance?

 

[mikedt]

1. Not necessarily smart-phones, but I'm sure online addition can be a serious problem for some. Whether they're using a phone, computer, tablet, etc. Maybe they are addicted to Facebook, Twitter, online gaming, gambling, shopping, etc.

2. Not really.

3. Don't know what "dopamine fasting" is. So I guess I never have.

4. No changes.

 

[The_Chief]

1. Nope: no effect, the Internet is a tool for me, not a crutch
2. Nope: I don't play games or have time for sloth
3. Nope: I don't need it... trust me, the plumbing works quite well without any additional stimuli
4. Nope: I am opposed to online gambling; I prefer to shop local but buy online when I have to
5. Nope: Real life is exciting enough for me without adding virtual excitement
6. Nope: My mind was fried by 21 years in the Navy... I can't afford to lose any more brain cells

EDIT: Besides - regarding #3... I'd rather be making it that watching it!

 

[MoodyBlues]

- Do you feel "smartphone addiction" is a real thing?

Yes, definitely!

Sort of.

Go to any restaurant, theater, party, sports event, basically any place with people and look around! They're buried in their phones, right? Or at least checking them constantly.

It may not be a -true- addiction, as in physiological, and certainly no one will die if separated from their phone, but it's something akin to addiction.

- Do you find yourself addicted to any degree?

Not one iota.

When I was involuntarily separated from all online activity for over a year, that didn't kill me.

- Can you get behind the science of "Dopamine Fasting"?

Meh... I don't know. First I'd have to be convinced of a physiological component, and I don't think we're there yet.

- What are your plans in 2020 to pursue digital balance?

Nothing. There's nothing that needs to be changed.

 

[dontpanicbobby]

Why are there only two? We need more than two

 

[puppykickr]

Yes.

 

[puppykickr]

Yes.

I wanted my one word answer to stand alone, as the sick part of me thought it was kind of funny, and the practical side of me saw that it answered the question entirely and truthfully.

My reality ended in late 2007, when I lost sight in one eye.
Then the cataracts started, and quickly progressed.

Permanently blind in one eye, and finally had cataract surgery later on for the other, my cellphone set-up got to where they were badgering me to get a new phone, and offered a free smartphone.

Let it be known that I had always hated computers, the internet, etc.

I noticed immediately that I could put the 3G sim card from the new phone into the old phone, and it would work just fine (it still does, hahaha).

So, my smartphone became a Wi-Fi dependant miniature tablet.

That little thing was so much more mentally ergonomic than any computer that I could conceive! This is how computers always should have been from the start!

Anyway, I have since quit most all of my hobbies and now play with the phone during my waking hours.

I am doing exactly what I was making fun of people for doing.

I have gotten fat, and when poked on the matter I raise my shirt and rub my fat belly- then say, "Me and my Android are gonna have a baby! We are so happy together! We decided that no matter what sex it is or wants to be, we are gonna name it Andy/Andi so that it won't matter!"

Then I usually try to muster up a huge belch while I continue to rub my fat belly.

Oh well.
I quit doing drugs, so that's good (right?).
And after almost 30 years I quit playing bass and guitar. I finally realized that those dreams are long dead. Everyone in the family was sick of hearing me play anyway.
I kept the hair.

Now I do what I can to help people with issues on Android devices.

So really, I have only traded some addictions and hobbies for another.

I might have gotten fat, but I'm not high.

And Androids are far cheaper and easier to carry around than music equipment.

Dogs chased me on my bicycle- not when I am on my Android.

I still play with my CB radio sometimes.
They haven't got an app for that yet...

 

[MoodyBlues]

And after almost 30 years I quit playing bass and guitar. I finally realized that those dreams are long dead.

The dreams may be dead, but the enjoyment doesn't have to be.

Assuming you enjoyed playing, why stop? I'm a lifelong balletomane, who used to practically live in the ballet studio. If health permitted, I'd don a leotard and tights--and ballet flats, since pointe is long behind me--and go back to class in a heartbeat!

Everyone in the family was sick of hearing me play anyway.

And...?

Screw 'em! If they don't like it, they don't have to listen. If you like it, pick up those guitars and play!

 

[puppykickr]

The dreams may be dead, but the enjoyment doesn't have to be.

Assuming you enjoyed playing, why stop? I'm a lifelong balletomane, who used to practically live in the ballet studio. If health permitted, I'd don a leotard and tights--and ballet flats, since pointe is long behind me--and go back to class in a heartbeat!

And...?

Screw 'em! If they don't like it, they don't have to listen. If you like it, pick up those guitars and play!

I just don't feel like I did about it.
So many others that are so much better.
It just seems that I actually enjoyed listening more before I started playing.
Now I am back to that point.

And hell, with this handy little device, I can listen, download, play with multiple EQs, add music to videos, etc.
All without tons of big, heavy, expensive equipment.

And if something happens to it, it's all replaceable for $40 and some time.

 

[puppykickr]

[QUOTE="screw'em! If they don't like it, they don't have to listen. If you like it, pick up those guitars and play! [/QUOTE]

Did I mention that I am a metalhead?
Lots of Black Sabbath, Slayer, Metallica (only their old stuff), Jethro Tull, etc.

 

[MoodyBlues]

I just don't feel like I did about it.
So many others that are so much better.
It just seems that I actually enjoyed listening more before I started playing.
Now I am back to that point.

And hell, with this handy little device, I can listen, download, play with multiple EQs, add music to videos, etc.
All without tons of big, heavy, expensive equipment.

And if something happens to it, it's all replaceable for $40 and some time.

You know, whatever makes you happy.

Since I can't dance any more, I re-live it vicariously, spending hours looking at photos/videos of ballet classes, pointe shoes, famous ballerinas whose skills--and crazy-arched feet--I could only ever dream of, famous danseurs whose musculature [and other body parts ] I admire, etc. It helps keep me feeling connected to the art form I've always been passionate about.

So if listening to others play guitar gives you more pleasure than doing it yourself, great! For me, knowing that I could never achieve the skill level of professional ballet dancers didn't deter me from taking class--it motivated me to work even harder.

 

[puppykickr]

You know, whatever makes you happy.

Since I can't dance any more, I re-live it vicariously, spending hours looking at photos/videos of ballet classes, pointe shoes, famous ballerinas whose skills--and crazy-arched feet--I could only ever dream of, famous danseurs whose musculature [and other body parts ] I admire, etc. It helps keep me feeling connected to the art form I've always been passionate about.

So if listening to others play guitar gives you more pleasure than doing it yourself, great! For me, knowing that I could never achieve the skill level of professional ballet dancers didn't deter me from taking class--it motivated me to work even harder.

Vicariously.
Yes.
That is how I enjoyed music before I played it, and that is how I enjoy it now.
The worst thing is that I held onto the dream and beat myself to death before I was willing to admit the inevitable.

So occasionally I still get the urge, but not enough to pick up my bass or guitar.

Only to move them out of the way sometimes.

Other than that I hardly even turn only recording system or amps.

Even less used is the entire PA system that I abandoned in the basement of a bar downtown years ago.

All that work, years of effort and thousands of dollars gone to waste.

Only to be right back where I started.

 

[MoodyBlues]

All that work, years of effort and thousands of dollars gone to waste.

I really don't see it as a waste--if you enjoyed what you were doing as you were doing it.

My analogy is the five years I spent in college. All I'd ever planned to do was be a physician. At 26--ten years after leaving home, and walking away from my family's money--I went back to school. By then I'd survived my first near-fatal illness, had a hysterectomy at 22, and hit rock bottom financially [as in, we couldn't keep the utilities on]. I waited until our daughter was in third grade, and we were on stable financial ground before tackling college.

My husband and I both worked; we paid my way through college as I went along. I rarely got more than 4 hours sleep, what with parenting, going to classes/labs, working, studying, being an A student with honors [in what's generally considered the hardest major], paying bills, taking pets to the vet, etc. (I get exhausted just thinking about it now!)

My professors and pre-med advisors told me I'd be able to write my own ticket when it came to getting into medical school.

FIVE YEARS of that--only to end up completely changing professions!

It's too long a story to add to this already long post; suffice to say that an unexpected opportunity [programming and system administration on UNIX] knocked, and I answered the door.

I had a wonderful, satisfying, challenging, high-paying career--completely unrelated to medicine. Do I regret the blood, sweat and tears I poured into those 5 years? Not one iota. While I was doing it, I was THRILLED. Tired, but happy.

I'm still asked occasionally if I regret my decision not to get my MD, not to do the one thing I'd always aspired to. My response is, unequivocally, no. I don't consider any of it--the expense, the hard work, the exhaustion, the education--a waste. It was, at the time, exactly what I wanted to be doing.

And while pre-med's biology and calculus and organic chemistry didn't directly apply to my ultimate profession, its logical, analytical thinking, problem solving, and time management certainly did. A waste? Never!

Only to be right back where I started.

Are you REALLY? Think of everything you did, everyone you interacted with, every place you went, everything you experienced and learned. You wouldn't be the you you are now without all of that.

Are you a famous, world-renowned musician? Okay, you're not, but that doesn't mean chasing your dreams was a waste...of anything.

You can ruminate over the dreams never achieved, or focus on the accomplishments you did have, like spending your time doing what you loved.

Obviously, I'm assuming that you did love what you were doing; I make that assumption because I can't see spending 30 years working a job you hated! If that was the case...never mind!

 

[puppykickr]

I really don't see it as a waste--if you enjoyed what you were doing as you were doing it.

My analogy is the five years I spent in college. All I'd ever planned to do was be a physician. At 26--ten years after leaving home, and walking away from my family's money--I went back to school. By then I'd survived my first near-fatal illness, had a hysterectomy at 22, and hit rock bottom financially [as in, we couldn't keep the utilities on]. I waited until our daughter was in third grade, and we were on stable financial ground before tackling college.

My husband and I both worked; we paid my way through college as I went along. I rarely got more than 4 hours sleep, what with parenting, going to classes/labs, working, studying, being an A student with honors [in what's generally considered the hardest major], paying bills, taking pets to the vet, etc. (I get exhausted just thinking about it now!)

My professors and pre-med advisors told me I'd be able to write my own ticket when it came to getting into medical school.

FIVE YEARS of that--only to end up completely changing professions!

It's too long a story to add to this already long post; suffice to say that an unexpected opportunity [programming and system administration on UNIX] knocked, and I answered the door.

I had a wonderful, satisfying, challenging, high-paying career--completely unrelated to medicine. Do I regret the blood, sweat and tears I poured into those 5 years? Not one iota. While I was doing it, I was THRILLED. Tired, but happy.

I'm still asked occasionally if I regret my decision not to get my MD, not to do the one thing I'd always aspired to. My response is, unequivocally, no. I don't consider any of it--the expense, the hard work, the exhaustion, the education--a waste. It was, at the time, exactly what I wanted to be doing.

And while pre-med's biology and calculus and organic chemistry didn't directly apply to my ultimate profession, its logical, analytical thinking, problem solving, and time management certainly did. A waste? Never!

Are you REALLY? Think of everything you did, everyone you interacted with, every place you went, everything you experienced and learned. You wouldn't be the you you are now without all of that.

Are you a famous, world-renowned musician? Okay, you're not, but that doesn't mean chasing your dreams was a waste...of anything.

You can ruminate over the dreams never achieved, or focus on the accomplishments you did have, like spending your time doing what you loved.

Obviously, I'm assuming that you did love what you were doing; I make that assumption because I can't see spending 30 years working a job you hated! If that was the case...never mind!

The truth is that I would like to play again, but I see no use in it.
It would take so long to get back to the level that I was at, not to mention that the competition is still way beyond that now.

And I basically crippled myself carrying equipment all those years.

I think I really lost my drive for it when I gave up drugs entirely. The drugs eased the pains from lifting equipment, improved my mood, and kept me in that 'musical mental state'.

And that makes me believe that it might have just been a drug inspired mess all along.

I did become a locally well known live sound engineer, and even found out that I had inspired a few others along the way.

As I never had kids, I guess that is alright.

When I quit the drugs (I still drink occasionally) I totally lost whatever drive I had to play anymore.

Recently I helped a guy half my age to quit smoking cigarettes. I used my self realizations to show him what was really going on with his addiction.
For me, the difference was that I just got older. It literally became a chore and a P.I.TA. to get high and stay that way.

So now I'm online with these here Android things.

Wish we had them all those years ago.
But damn, would I be fat...

 

[dontpanicbobby]

Yeah No.

 

[EarlyMon]

Yeah No.

I came to say the same exact thing. Bravo compadre!

 

[MoodyBlues]

Where the hell have you been, @EarlyMon?! You're missed around here!