Distraction or Addiction?

           This last week has been frustrating for me! I've had so many worthy goals, but I haven't been able to accomplish any of them.  For instance, when our stake president had challenged us to give an acceptable offering to the Lord, the spirit prompted me that for the next three weeks I should not work on anything else but my life history.  I have been working off and on this project for the past 9 months, but so many things keep getting in my way (this blog included). 

              Monday I sat down to start writing and I would just be at a good part where my thoughts were flowing and I would hear a "ping".  I glanced over at the nearby desk and saw my Ipad sitting there, but I kept typing.  A few minute went by and I heard another "ping".  This time it was if I could feel my heart flutter with excitement!  "Oh how exciting, I have two new emails."  Then I tried to force myself back to my life history.  "Come on Michele, you are almost done with this section, just wait a minute and you can reward yourself with your email when you are done." 

              Committed once again I turned back to the computer and then there it was, another "ping".  I just couldn't resist.  I turned my chair away from the keyboard and longingly reached for my Ipad.  "I will just take a quick glance to see what the emails are and be right back," I told myself.  A few minutes later the phone rang, I jumped as if being caught doing some bad.  I looked up at the clock as I answered the phone...15 minutes had just gone by.  It was my daughter and she wanted to talk.  I stood up from my computer because I can't write and talk at the same time, and went to find some busy work to keep my hands busy while I talked on the phone. 
              That was the end of me ever getting back to my life history for the day.  Between the phone and the "pings" on the Ipad, I could not discipline myself to say no.  That afternoon when it was time to go visiting teaching I was in a very irritated mood.  I was so disappointed in myself for not being more disciplined.  Right as I was about to go out the door, my Ipad "pinged" again.  I wanted to throw it out the window, but I couldn't, it was as if it had special powers over me.  I quickly looked at the clock....I had a minute before it was time to leave, so you guessed it, I sat down to take just a quick glance.  It was an email that my husband had just sent me.  The first sentence was like looking in a mirror.  I was furious as I read it, but then I realized how true it was and that I was addicted.  Here are some highlights:

"Do you ever feel like you are addicted to email or twitter or texting? Do you find it impossible to ignore your email if you see that there are messages in your inbox? Have you ever gone to Google to look up some information and 30 minutes later you realize that you’ve been reading and linking, and searching around for a long time, and you are now searching for something totally different than before? These are all examples of your dopamine system at work."

I couldn't believe what I was reading.  It was as if this person had just been watching me all morning.  I continued reading...

It’s all about seeking — Instead of dopamine causing us to experience pleasure, the latest research shows that dopamine causes seeking behavior. Dopamine causes us to want, desire, seek out, and search. It increases our general level of arousal and our goal-directed behavior. Dopamine makes us curious about ideas and fuels our searching for information. The latest research shows that it is the opoid system (separate from dopamine) that makes us feel pleasure. 

A dopamine induced loop – With the internet, twitter, and texting we now have almost instant gratification of our desire to seek. Want to talk to someone right away? Send a text and they respond in a few seconds. Want to look up some information? Just type it into google. Want to see what your friends are up to? Go to twitter or facebook. We get into a dopamine induced loop… dopamine starts us seeking, then we get rewarded for the seeking which makes us seek more. It becomes harder and harder to stop looking at email, stop texting, stop checking our cell phones to see if we have a message or a new text.

Anticipation is better than getting — Brain scan research shows that our brains show more stimulation and activity when we ANTICIPATE a reward than when we get one. Research on rats shows that if you destroy dopamine neurons, rats can walk, chew, and swallow, but will starve to death even when food is right next to them. They have lost the desire to go get the food.

More, more, more – Although wanting and liking are related, research also shows that the dopamine system doesn’t have satiety built in. It is possible for the dopamine system to keep saying “more more more”, seeking even when we have found the information. During that google exploration we know that we have the answer to the question we originally asked, and yet we find ourselves looking for more information and more and more.

Unpredictable is the key — Dopamine is also stimulated by unpredictability. When something happens that is not exactly predictable, that stimulates the dopamine system. Think about these electronic gadgets and devices. Our emails and twitters and texts show up, but we don’t know exactly when they will or who they will be from. It’s unpredictable. This is exactly what stimulates the dopamine system. It’s the same system at work for gambling and slot machines.

When you hear the “Ping” that you have an email – The dopamine system is especially sensitive to “cues” that a reward is coming. If there is a small, specific cue that signifies that something is going to happen, that sets off our dopamine system. So when there is a sound when a text message or email arrives, or a visual cue, that enhances the addictive effect (remember Pavlov).

140 characters is even more addictive – And the dopamine system is most powerfully stimulated when the information coming in is small so that it doesn’t full satisfy. A short text or twitter (can only be 140 characters!) is ideally suited to send our dopamine system raging.

Not without costs — This constant stimulation of the dopamine system can be exhausting. We are getting caught in an endless dopamine loop.

OH MY GOSH!!!!!! What a shocking insight.  I have been caught in an endless dopamine loop.  No wonder I never feel satisfied after reading my emails, or looking on facebook...I always want more.  So many times after searching the internet, I feel like a junkfood junky who has eaten too much. Now that I've identified this problem, what am I going to do about?  The first thing I did was to go into the settings of my Ipad and turn off all sounds.  I have done that for over a week now and I am feeling a new "peace".  If any of you are experiencing any of the above behaviors like I did, I challenge you to turn off your sound and try and tune in on some new found peace and quiet living.  I can still check my emails, WHEN the time is appropriate and suprisingly enough, I have actually been able to start accomplishing a lot more things.


Here is a link to the full above full article  http://www.theteamw.com/2009/11/07/100-things-you-should-know-about-people-8-dopamine-makes-us-addicted-to-seeking-information/