How is the dopamine dependence on technology
A Life Technologies / / December 19, 2019
In an unprecedented fit of candor Sean Parker, one of the co-founders of Facebook, has admitted that the social network was not created in order to unite us and to distract us. "The question was how to take as much time and attention of users," - I told he speech in November.
To do this, the creators of Facebook took advantage a weakness of the human psyche. Every time someone laykaet or comments on your post or photo, you get a small release of dopamine. It turns out, Facebook - an empire built on the molecule dopamine.
What makes dopamine in the body
Dopamine - one of the twenty major neurotransmitters. These chemicals, like couriers, urgent messages transferred between neurons and other cells. Due neurotransmitters a heart It continues to beat and the lungs - breathing. Dopamine ensures that we will drink water when we are thirsty and try to reproduce, to pass on their genes.
In the 50s it was believed that dopamine is responsible for the movement. That is the conclusion, scientists have come when researched Parkinson's disease. Symptoms of this disease include tremor (trembling in the limbs or trunk), slow movement and muscle stiffness. And it is the lack of production of dopamine.
But in the 80s, after the experiments neuroscientist Wolfram Schultz (Wolfram Schultz) with rats, scientists have changed opinion. Schulz held a series of experiments. Once a rat bit her food that she was offered, in her brain came a large release of dopamine. In this process of learning is built.
The brain anticipates a reward for some action. If we repeatedly get this award, the action becomes habit.
These experiments provedA neural substrate of prediction and rewardThat dopamine is primarily involved in the reward system. It is associated with desires, ambitions, addictions and sexual desire. According to Schultz, it is unclear whether dopamine causes a pleasant sensation in itself. Yet for him the reputation of the hormone of happiness.
Dopamine motivates us to take action to meet our needs and desires, enabling us to imagine how we will feel after they met.
How companies use to create dopamine dependence in users
Dopamine has become very popular, as it is often written in the press. But especially a lot of talk about it in Silicon Valley. There he considered the secret ingredient that makes the app, game, or potentially profitable platform. Entrepreneur Ramsey Brown (Ramsay Brown) even founded a company that uses dopamine dependence in the development of applications, - Dopamine Labs.
The system is based, which uses Dopamine Labs, is arbitrary. This method can be used with any application to develop habits. For example, in the application to run, it looks like this: the user receives a promotion (icon or a rain of confetti) than after each run, and in a random order. It would seem that it does not motivate. But Brown said, users of this application began to run an average of 30% more.
However, not everyone shares this enthusiasm. A columnist for The New York Times, David Brooks (David Brooks) I wrote"Companies understand that causes the release of dopamine in the brain, and is added to the basis of their product technology, which is tightened users." This explains the success of Facebook.
We experience an irresistible urge to go to the site, because they do not know when the notification will come, and with it - and the release of dopamine.
The ability to thus technologies influence our behavior are just beginning to explore. However, the efficacy of dopamine in the formation of habits is already familiar to all those who are dependent on smoking and drugs. Any narcotic substance affects the reward system, causing the production of dopamine in much larger quantities than usual. And the more a person takes drugs, the harder it is to stop.
There are other negative consequences. For example, patients with Parkinson's disease take medicines that fill the brain dopamine. Moreover, almost 10% of patients become addictedPathological gambling in Parkinson's disease: what are the risk factors and what is the role of impulsivity? gambling.
What's next
Brown and his colleagues at the Dopamine Labs understand that they are playing with fire. They have worked out for themselves an ethical framework to decide to cooperate with any companies. "We will deal with them, we understand that they create, and why," - Brown says.
"I do not know whether such an application cause dependence, - said Professor Shultz. - But the idea that we can change the behavior of the other person is not using drugs, but simply putting it in a certain situation, a lot of controversy.
We tell people how they should behave, and it's risky. If any system natrenirovyvaet brain to produce dopamine after certain actions, a situation may arise when a person is not able to get out from under the control of the system. I'm not saying that companies developing such services are doing something wrong. Maybe they even help. But I would poosterogsya. "
However, Brown said the use of the dopamine system in a natural way of development of the human brain. According to him, dopamine helps us consciously to shape healthy habits. "We can bridge the gap between desire and action and create systems that help people develop," - he says.