The brain chemical dopamine is often named as the reason behind addiction to social media, gaming, and other addictive behaviors. It has been linked to the development of a variety of mental illnesses, including gambling and internet addiction disorders.
Tech companies know stimulating this dopamine loop will keep people using their products. That is why they are constantly adding new features that stimulate it repeatedly.
How do Dopamine Loops Work?
Dopamine is one of the brain’s feel-good chemicals. It’s also the chemical associated with addiction.
Doing anything that triggers a dopamine surge makes us want to keep doing it. The feeling can be powerful, especially from activities like closing a business deal or advancing in a video game. But it can also come from things like eating a cupcake or taking a pill.
It’s not so much that we’re addicted to dopamine as we are to the behavior or activity that triggers a spike in it. That is why experts can accurately predict whether something will be addictive.
For example, a person will quickly develop a tolerance to drugs because they’re constantly hitting the same neural pathway. But the effect can last long with behaviors like screens, sweets, and free-to-play games. That’s why it takes a lot of self-discipline to avoid them. In many cases, people need to take a break from these activities or use strategies like time limits to curb their addictiveness.
The Compulsion Loop
When a video game player completes an in-game loop, they are rewarded with a dopamine boost. This reward reinforces the following action in the loop and keeps them returning for more.
The dopamine system is susceptible to cues that indicate a rewarding experience is about to happen. These can include sounds (auditory cues) or visual stimuli, such as a notification of a new email or text message. Tech companies know this and lace their apps with these cues to encourage users to keep checking their apps.
For example, players slay monsters and collect their loot in the popular game. With this gear, they can take on more monsters and so forth. We refer to this cycle as a compulsion loop. It is a fundamental gameplay tactic likened to an Escher staircase, in which each move advances the player to the next play level. Businesses use compulsive loops in addition to multi video cade Spearfish SD in their e-learning training courses.
The Cognitive Loop
When a person sees something new, they have to determine its significance. They do this by comparing it to things they have experienced before. It is how a thought loop starts.
If a video game depicts a dangerous or violent situation, the player’s brain will respond as though it is accurate. They may even experience a fight-or-flight response to the perceived danger.
Dopamine is a highly influential neurotransmitter.
But dopamine is also critical to our brain’s regulation of approach motivation. It’s why we can find ourselves stuck in addictive behaviors, be it sugar, social media, sex, or video games. The good news is that you can break a cognitive loop by slowly cutting out the behavior over time, allowing your brain to get used to the pleasure-pain balance again. Start with a 30-day break and gradually reintroduce the behavior in moderation.
The Reinforcement Loop
The brain releases dopamine in reaction to enjoyable experiences, such as playing video games, candy, or social media. This neurochemical is linked to memory and motivation. And because of this, if you experience a pleasurable feeling once, it can cause the same urge to seek it out again. It is called the compulsion loop or core loop. It keeps you returning for more, even if the activity isn’t healthy for you.
The compulsion loop consists of three elements: motivation, action, and feedback. Let’s say you play a language-learning app that rewards you with points every time you complete a lesson (motivation). Then, you take the classes and check other in-app activities based on prompts from the app (action). Finally, the app gives you feedback on your progress, telling you how close you are to earning a reward (feedback). This motivation, action, and feedback cycle keeps you returning for more. But it can be hard to stop.
