Research has proven that emotion is a necessary component of human’s ability to think and even function at all. An important component in that process is the neurotransmitter of dopamine. Many people misunderstand it as a pleasure chemical. In reality, it is instead responsible for driving motivation, in pursuit of that gratification. When we do end up achieving the target that we crave and getting to enjoy it though, our dopamine ends up depleting. In other words, our dopamine is a limited resource.
When it comes to social media, our eyes and attention are the product. At casinos, sometimes we win, get bonuses, or nada. Slots, Instagram, and TikTok provide badge rewards and mission. Of course, both industries are happy and profit from having you as as hooked as possible.
The key is to enjoy them responsibly and initiate each pastime with a plan and take esponsibility for one’s actions while knowing that there is addicting entertainment out there. Odds 96 online is actually no more addicting than the thousands of video games, TV series, live sports, and image filter apps out there.
Dopamine 101
Dopamine controls our decisions and entrenches habits. When your brain expects a positive outcome, dopamine goes right up, driving you to repeat the behavior that led to it. This is the neurological foundation that both gamblers and social media users unknowingly rely on.
One of the most powerful triggers for dopamine release is unpredictability. Psychologists call this a variable reward schedule, as made most famous by the BF Skinner pigeon experiment. Simply put, the brain is hooked the hardest when it doesn’t actually know if a reward is coming or it isn’t. Think of a slot machine. You might win big on the first pull, the fifteenth, or not at all, but it’s uncertainty that keeps you reaching for the lever.
Social media uses the same principle. Every scroll could just be dull or cliche, but some of them contain:
- An extremely profound quote
- A laugh for you
- An attractive person to look at
- A shocking, scary, or drama-filled action somebody took
- An amazing accomplishment, one that you perhaps aspire to
You end up forming a habit to continue experiencing that reward and there are neural pathways that are reinforced. They get hard to break later on.
Casinos
These are like the social media long before social media existed. They far pre-date social networks, since the Internet and apps haven’t been around for very long at all. Gambling by contrast has been a thing for thousands of years. Therefore, it’s been one of the most studied objects of addictions. These meticulously utilize lights, coin jingles, you name it, whatever it takes to keep players glued to the machine.
Slot Machines
As for slot machines, these are relatively new inventions in the gambling world. The primary way that people have gambled for the most part have been at a table with cards or on the floor with dice. In the 50s, slots were regarded as something that husbands could leave their wives to do while they did the manly skill-intensive activities like fooling and outwitting their opponents in poker or blackjack.
Around the time when computers started getting widespread, in the 80s and 90s, is when slots were developed too. Their intent was to automate everything that happened in gambling, without all of the delays and pauses and speed it up to derive as much revenue while dazzling the player as much as possible.
Slots have now gone from being a sideshow to now dominating every single casino and accounting for more than 70% of its profits.
Sensory Environment
Bright lights, upbeat music, and strategically designed layouts create a heightened state of arousal. The sights and sounds are not just they’re to look pretty. They’re building your anticipation. The whole casino and its carpet path is a wonderful world where you sit giddy wondering what’s next.
Social Media
Everything works in a strikingly similar way. It too exploits the brain’s reward system with frequent stimuli. Rather than the lights and the jingles, social media takes advantage of tons of notifications and infinite scrolling algorithmically curated to produce the same effects, according to your own particular personality. You get to pursue your need to interact and react form people with commenting, liking, and sharing.
Each notification is a micro-reward. Social validation is another huge thing that casinos don’t offer usually. And the more an app learns about you, the more it can exploit what emotions resonate the most with you.
Long-Term Implications
What happens when you are getting bombarded with sources seeking to suck your dopamine every day is that you lose motivation to handle your goals and important responsibilities in life. Many people start their every morning by checking for notifications on their phone, just to chase that validation. It’s very hard just to avoid looking at one’s phone for several hours. This is one of the reasons that people stop going outside and engaging in activities and making friends in the real world outside.
It’s concerning that compulsive behavior results in both cases. Stealing your in-laws’ stuff. Being unable to socialize. And the more that people consume stimuli, the higher the tolerance ot it next time. It’s a self-perpetuating cycle. Social media is also known to cause depression and feelings of inadequacy. At work, it impacts people’s productivity when they are hooked on instant gratification and it radicalizes people’s political views.
The Ethical Perspective
Both of these have deep-seated effects on society. In the case of gambling, it has traditionally been illegal everywhere but the governments failed in the majority of history and in most countries. However, with the rise of the Internet, crypto cash, and VPNs, illegal gambling has thrived massively, and governments have simply been unable to stop it. What they’ve switched to doing now is legalizing it, controlling it tightly, and taxing it heavily.
There are also lots of responsible gambling features in place that are mandatory for casinos. These go a long way in helping players stop when they think they’ve played enough. That includes self-exclusion possibilities and stop limits, which casinos must observe and enforce on their players.
Social Media Regulation
Social media is what’s far less regulated.The ethical responsibility falls on companies themselves. But they’ve historically overwhelmingly prioritized their profits over people’s well-being.That raises an important question – SHould platforms be obligated to redesign features that encourage compulsive use? Should they provide the same self-exclusion options and stop limits as casinos that they themselves have to enforce?
The Future of Dopamine Economics
Entertainment is going to get more immersive as we move forward, as well as more personalized. New apps are testing out totally new tools to capture people’s attention with, blurring the lines of physical and digital rewards. AI is a really hot topic nowadays, as virtual and reality have become as well. VR can simulate whole new environments for that matter, where people could feel like they’re traversing the moon without having done any actual work.
Memes are getting ever more personalized to deliver hyper-targed rewards. User awareness and protection is going to become critical.
