Everybody likes rewards, but before neuroscientific breakthroughs, nobody thought that what lies behind pleasure is a complex web of brain and chemical processes. Also, none of us could guess that, someday, the system would use it for manipulation. In his book Brave New World, the famous Aldous Huxley claimed that enjoyment would be the true weapon of manipulation in the future, rather than direct totalitarianism. He was not far from the truth.
The following article will unravel how digital goods affect our behaviour and rewire our habits, just because they boost our dopamine through, for instance, designing attractive welcome casino bonuses. The reason this is important to understand is that knowledge grants more control. Luckily, in this day and age, it is not only technology that has taken a step forward, but users have become wiser as well, and are more invested in strategies to win back their time and mental health.
The Allure of the Reward
The human brain is sensitive to rewards because it used to be vital for the survival of the species. Therefore, actions like eating or socialising, both beneficial to people, trigger the release of dopamine, the hormone associated with pleasure. The experience nudges individuals to seek to relive that experience, hoping to feel the same thrill.
But here is the trick. People have not evolved either to enjoy every moment of existence or receive such a multitude of stimuli as the digital world provides. In other words, what used to be pleasant and practical has turned into a serious mental health issue.
Contemporary Technology, Design, and The Excess of Stimuli
Modern companies have been investing a lot of resources and energy into target audience research. Numerous feedback studies helped them determine what people want, to boost their sales or make their content profitable and well-received. So, how does it happen? We shall examine several examples below.
Endless Scrolling Trick
You have probably noticed that many websites and social media platforms tend to exist in a state of eternal loading. This clever trick is used to entice people into spending more time on the platform, which will, in turn, result in more sales or engagement.
Gamification and Personalisation
Online platforms, casinos, mobile apps, and games often provide an interface that is organised to make every action feel like an achievement, resulting in users collecting points or small rewards. Just like the previous example, this also exists to consume your time since most online content providers profit from interaction.
Another common method is personalisation. Streaming platforms observe your patterns to suggest content you are most likely to enjoy. Gambling platforms create special bonuses and exceptional options for their VIP players. By keeping us in a bubble of pleasure, they ensure our loyalty.
Fear of Missing Out
Many sales offers or welcome bonus packages are designed to seem amazing and come with a time limit. If people feel the offer is too good and that time is short, they are more likely to decide to buy something or join a platform.
Waiting for the Next Thrill
Although there is nothing new or especially nefarious about the fact that companies that sell content and products want as much engagement as possible to be successful, if these techniques are used without responsibility and excessively, they have severe consequences for the mind. Being constantly exposed to pleasure does not bring more enjoyment. Quite the opposite. It conditions the mind to become desensitised to it.
As a result, people consume more and feel less pleasure from it, but are simultaneously looking for the next thrill. Extreme dopamine surges from artificial sources, like social media or gambling, lead to a reduction in its natural release and seriously decrease our ability to draw pleasure from natural rewards.
How to Take Back Power
If the mind can be rewired by the internet, it can also be rewired through our own agency. Here is some advice on how to balance the influence that digital products and content have on us.
Offline Time
As we are all realising, a balance between digital technology and offline time has to be struck for better mental and physical health. Maintaining activities that have nothing to do with the internet and do not involve a device will reconnect us to the natural dopamine release cycle and teach us how to take back our productive time.
Asking for Help
“Addiction can happen to anyone, and many individuals are either truly addicted to virtual stimulation or agitated when not interacting with social media or other content on their devices. If you do not feel capable of setting your own limits, seek professional help.
Online casinos, for instance, provide links to responsible gambling therapy programmes and allow players to self-exclude for a certain amount of time if the experience has become too dangerous and overwhelming”, explains Isabella Pritchard, NZ-CasinoOnline.NZ author and online gambling expert.
Conclusion
Virtual stimulation and digital existence have fundamentally affected our natural evolution by introducing not only the possibility of excessive pleasure boosts but also allowing unethical or simply careless institutions and companies to exploit this knowledge to program people for profit and success.
Evolution did not envision constant enjoyment; therefore, being often exposed to stimuli results in less satisfaction rather than more, which affects mental health. Knowing how our brains function can help us take back control over our time and decision-making. The solution is not to give up the digital world completely, but to learn how to balance the time we spend online with our offline activities.
