Let's talk about dopamine. People call it the chemical of want and desire, but why is that? Well, here is how it works.
What the hell is this "dopamine"?
From an evolutionary standpoint, your brain rewards you for anything that will increase your likelihood of survival by releasing a neurotransmitter called "dopamine" in your brain.
That's the reason why it feels so damn good to have sex or to eat a steak because our brain thinks that sex equals a reproduction of our species and that a fat piece of meat equals a long-lasting satiation.
Example of "dopamine"?
Let's look at an example. As soon as you're standing in front of your fridge, and you have the choice to either pick a carrot or a piece of chocolate, your brain will tell you to pick the one which releases more dopamine as it knows that it will make you feel more pleasure. So naturally you will choose the chocolate.
Now you might say "well, that's not too bad to eat a piece of chocolate every now and then" and that's true. But as soon as our brain releases a lot of dopamine, it will try to stimulate the craving for that thing over and over again until you develop an urge for it, and that's when the addiction kicks in and we can't live without it.
How do companies manipulate your thinking?
For this reason people become overweight, alcoholics or drug addicts. The thing is that dopamine doesn't know what's good for us and what isn't. It doesn't know that eating too much chocolate is unhealthy for us. All it sees is a potential of pleasure without any context, and for this reason drug addicts are willing to let their whole life fall apart, only to get that one hit of dopamine again and again. The terrifying reality is that almost every company in our modern society exploits this deeply-rooted reward system by putting it on steroids.
How do big tech giants manipulate your thinking?
There are millions of experts specifically designing their products and internet platforms to release as much dopamine as possible in order to make us come back over and over again. That's why social media platforms switch from chronological feeds to an algorithm-based feed and that's why video games have levels and ranking systems, to keep us coming back. They give us constant dopamine hits as we jump from one post to the next one and from one level to the next one, and what makes it even easier for us to engage in social media, junk food, porn, alcohol, drugs or any other source of instant gratification, is that it doesn't take us any effort. We simply have to consume and are instantly rewarded with massive hits of dopamine. It's crazy to believe, but we live in a world which is designed to stimulate our emotions in order to maximize profits. It is scientifically proven that dopamine has a direct influence on the decisions we make and the actions we take.
Reason Dopamine controls us:
That's why ultimately dopamine controls us on a daily basis and that's why billions of people unconsciously focus their whole life on consuming instead of creating the lives they actually want to live. Alright. So, I honestly believe that this problem is much bigger than we think and that every single person is impacted by it, and that's why I want to tackle it by doing a 7-day dopamine detox in order to change my relationship with dopamine and hopefully to inspire you guys to do the same.
Here are the rules to Avoid for next 7 Days:
For the next 7 days I won't be allowed to consume the following things.
- No social media.
- I deleted all social media apps from my phone.
- I won't be able to access these sites on my laptop as well.
- No digital entertainment.
- I'm not allowed to watch TV or Netflix.
- I can't play any videogames.
- No junk food. Which means that I can't eat any unhealthy food like chips or sweets.
- Regarding beverages, I will only drink water, so also no Coke Zero.
- No alcohol and drug
- No porn and no music.
This is something I wanted to try for myself because I'm constantly listening to music and I never really have a moment of silence.
Here the Results Guys:
So, now as the rules were set, I was ready to embark on this journey. Enjoying the last coke. I'm gonna miss it. I'm ready to go, and I'm looking forward to the next couple of days, and I hope that I'm going to see some real benefits coming from this.
Let's go! Unlike many of my other mornings, this one was without music. Instead of grabbing my phone right away and playing a random song, I started my day in silence.
Hey. Come on, this is like the cutest dog ever, right? Alright, yeah, I'm just going for a walk here and... To be honest, it feels great. I'm already loving it. I haven't really kept up my routine for the last 30 days that I was here on Mallorca. It's always a little bit difficult if you switch location, so I didn't go for any walks, I didn't do any workouts and all that kind of stuff, so it was definitely a goal to get it going again. When I came back home, I said hi to the other dogs and made myself cereals with milk for breakfast. Instead of watching YouTube videos while having breakfast, I basically did nothing... Which was kinda boring. After that, it was time for work. In the next hours, I reviewed a script for my notion workflow video and planned the shortlist for the intro of this video.
I pretty quickly started to get into a good flow because my phone was still at the side of my bed. I didn't see any good use in having it with me as I couldn't access social media or listen to music, so I just focused on my work and got a lot of things done. After that it was time for a good old Spanish lunch with fuet and tortilla. Spanish food is the best.
What did I notice after doing Detox?
First thing I noticed when I came into the car: there was music running. I immediately turned it off, but it's just so weird to drive without music. I normally listen to music all the time, especially when I'm driving in the car. Today I'm not going to listen to anything.
Next up, I went to the supermarket where I bought a ton of chocolate bars in order to shoot the intro of this video. So, as you can hear, there is music running here. There's just nothing I can do. That doesn't count as my fault here.
I'm not actually eating the chocolate. So, the day is getting to an end, the sun is already setting back here and yeah, it has been a successful day to be honest. Overall, I felt very very focused today, because there were just no distractions that could pull me out of my flow. Yeah, I got a lot of things done.
I reviewed a script and sent it out to a client, I shot the whole intro of this video and a lot of additional b-roll. I just felt super super productive today. So, you might wonder why would you do a dopamine detox, and the thing is that for the last one or two weeks I've been feeling really off. I was just not focused, I didn't have any motivation to create videos, I didn't want to stand in front of a camera and I was super indecisive. Like, I thought at least 10 times if I should shoot this video or if I should push it back and shoot it later. That's when I thought like "okay, I've got to get rid of all of these distractions and I have to focus on the things that I actually want to get done". And the dopamine detox doesn't mean that you're going to detox from all kinds of dopamine. Like, my dopamine level is hopefully going to stay consistent, but what I'm focusing on are all of the external factors, like social media, like alcohol and all the other things that just create those impulsive behaviours. Like, everybody knows when you're just sitting on the toilet and suddenly... You just have your phone open with Instagram and you're like "how did I get here?", and that's just the thing. Like, as soon as we get a lot of dopamine from one source, then our brain just rewires and we have these impulsive behaviours where we don't even think about it, but we just do it right away, automatically, because our brain tells us "okay, I'm going to get a lot of dopamine from there, so I'm going to do it". And that's something I definitely want to get rid of. I want to control my own decisions and control my own actions and yeah, that's why I'm going to do detox from these sources in order to just see what kind of benefits they bring me and hopefully to do it in long term. The sun is set, the birds are still out and... I still have a couple of hours to kill for today and I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do yet. I don't know what's wrong with this dog. She just has so much energy.
Bad news:
All of my cereals are empty. Actually, I wanted to just eat a couple of those ones instead for breakfast, but I'm going to stick to Spanish food again. I want one of those really bad right now. You're not gonna get anything! I'd say that the second day was just as productive as the day before. I spent all day long editing on a YouTube video where I made a lot more progress than usual and most importantly, I really enjoyed to edit again. It felt like the motivation that I had been missing for these past weeks was finally back. So, for the majority of the day I've been editing my video on how I learned to fly FPV. I made some real progress there and now I'm actually gonna get out and do a workout in order to get back to my daily routine and stay fit. Honestly, sport without any music... Kind of sucks. Do you know what's the funniest thing about this dog? That he's just like one big muscle and he can't relax at all. Look at this! He's just always under pressure! Right? Say hello! Hello! I love this dog. When it comes to food, I had the huge advantage that my stepmother is really talented at cooking, so in the evenings I always had very healthy and tasty meals.
That evening after dinner:
That was usually the time when the boredom kicked in, and instead of working another few hours on my videos in order to escape that boredom, I decided to play with the animals and started to watch more and more sunsets, which really helped me to slow things down and be more mindful. So, I just watched the sun go down and... Yeah, to be honest, I'm feeling super present. I'm always just like listening to the birds and not having any distractions. That's just like... It's so liberating, because... Normally I would obviously take out my phone all the time to capture everything, and right now it's just like... A moment of calm. So right now it's 5:40 a.m. This is much earlier than I normally get up, but today... I'm gonna go for sunrise because I want to fly my FPV drone. Let's do this. Currently on the way to the viewpoint. I haven't been here before to be honest. I think it's gonna be a good sunrise. Look at that drop going down here. This is epic, hey! I think the sun is coming up in a minute, I think we have the perfect timing. Look at that.
Let's go! To be honest, I've always struggled with dedicating my time to new hobbies. I never got started with flying an FPV drone because I thought that it would take too long to learn it, and... I wouldn't have time for my other work. But, as I didn't spend any time watching Netflix or scrolling through my phone, I was able to replace those toxic activities with things that I always wanted to do, like flying my FPV drone. Being up in the air, cruising through this beautiful landscape, I felt super excited. Not only because I was flying with more than 70 km/h through trees, but because I finally prioritized my time in the right way and engaged in a new hobby. So, I just finished my flight. If you've been watching my last videos, you know that I am currently practicing on learning how to fly FPV, and yeah, it's going well so far and... I'm definitely making some progress here. Amazing location, one of my favourite spots on Mallorca. There are just so many cliffs and trees and everything, And... yeah. I don't know, I don't really go often for sunrises anymore, because I'm always too lazy, but I have to say... It's 100% worth it all the time. Hey! Hi! Look who's been waiting for me. So, the bad thing about all of these instant gratification sources is that you can very very easily get addicted to them, and I definitely saw that happening in my own life with many of those. Like, I was addicted to videogames when I was 15, where I played like 6 to 7 hours a day.
I definitely had an unhealthy relationship with alcohol and also with social media, and as I just realized that all of these different things don't contribute to the things I want to pursue in my own life, I really decided to make some drastic changes, and that's why I didn't play any videogames for the last 5 years. I stopped eating any junk food at all for like two years now, I think? Like, I don't eat any sweets but I just replace them with fruits, which is a lot more healthy. Also, I definitely improved my relationship with alcohol and also with social media. And especially during Covid times, when you're locked at home and you don't have many things to do, then it just becomes a lot easier to get drawn back into that vicious cycle, and I also saw that happening for myself. For example, with social media. I did a social media detox one year ago, and I honestly remember it as some of the best times that I had, because I was just feeling so present and I was just feeling purely alive in those 30 days without any social media. And after I finished this detox, I decided to not use any social media on Sundays and had some different rules and all that kind of stuff, but... Eventually, as time progressed, I stopped paying attention to them and I also got back to spending a lot of time on social media, which is something I don't want to do.
To be honest, this is something I'm always trying to work on every single day, to get rid of these bad habits and to take a distance from all of these things that can make me addicted in a bad way. Keep your distance to these things. Like, everything is alright if you do it in balance, but as soon as you do it all of the time, then you don't have the ability to make your own decisions anymore. I've been editing on my FPV video and recording voice-overs for it all day long, and yeah, normally I watch YouTube videos of other creators when I have lunch or in the evening, but as I didn't do that for the last days, I really feel like there is some weight lifted off my shoulders, because I don't have to compare myself with those other creators, and my videos are okay just the way they are. That really helps me... Kind of like get into a flow and move forward with my own projects without thinking too much about if they should be a certain way and all that kind of stuff. And also I'm feeling a little bit more creative at the moment, so that's really good. But I think it's enough work for today, I need to get some motion and do some sports, and that's why I'm gonna go for a run now.
Let's go. Also, running without any music, I actually enjoy it because you can focus so much better on your breath and also you just take in all of the things around you instead of, like, just being in your own world. I wasn't only able to notice my surroundings while running, but actually during every moment along the way. Before I started this detox, I was so self-absorbed that my mind was constantly occupied with everything else besides the actual things happening around me. I would think about a social media post that I saw an hour ago while talking to a friend, or be lost in a song instead of listening to the birds. But the less time I spent bombarding my brain with those short-term dopamine hits, the more I was able to drown out the noise and embrace the present moment.
I felt like my brain had some sort of reset. So, I'm currently on the way to one of my favourite sunset spots in the area here. It's called San Salvador, which is a small mountain. I'm actually just going there to enjoy the sunset, take a couple of drone shots and... Just have a good time, that's all! I don't know why, but I'm just falling in love with sunsets and sunrises again. Overall, I really feel that my mental clarity immensely improved, because... I just don't hop from one activity to the next one, but I give my brain some time to actually process all of the experiences I take in, and therefore I'm overall just more calm and settled. And actually also a friend of mine, with whom I Skyped last night, he also told me by himself "dude, you're a lot more calm than normally", like "what's happening?". So yeah, I definitely enjoy it so far because all of my thoughts are just ordered and I'm not distracted that much.
And it just feels like I experience everything twice as intensive as before, because I'm just in the moment and not always on my phone thinking about the next Instagram post or Instagram story, and I'm just spending all of my time in my life and not in somebody else's, which is really nice. So... I'm currently making my way to the beach. I didn't swim in the ocean this year so far, so I thought today would be the day, and that's why I'm gonna make use of it. This is going to be good. So, my dopamine detox is slowly coming to an end and I have to say that I really enjoyed those last couple of days. Obviously there were some temptations here and there, and sometimes I also felt bored, especially in the evenings when I just didn't have anything to do. I couldn't watch Netflix, I couldn't go on social media, but I just compensated for that time by Skyping with my friends, which is a pretty good alternative to social media to be honest. And I just feel like you have to escape that constant stimulus that we have... In our modern world in order to just zoom out and to reflect on where you're at at the moment, in order to... Just see everything objectively and in order to make changes. And I really feel that I was able to do that by just having these moments of boredom. I think that they are necessary and that everything around us is kind of holding us back from having them.
So yeah, I really enjoyed this detox and I hope that I can keep up the benefits for a couple more days or weeks, and hopefully I'll also make some changes for my overall life. Right now, the only thing I've got to do... Is jump in the ocean. So, what do I take away from these last 7 days? Well, things like junk food, alcohol and porn were pretty easy to avoid. Other things like social media and music were a lot harder for me. Driving without any music is... Fucking boring. But from one day to another, I noticed more and more benefits coming from this detox. First off, I was able to restore my daily routine by going for walks and working out. That walk felt amazing. As my brain was not constantly overwhelmed by so many dopamine hits from external sources, I was able to replace those toxic activities with things that actually make me feel present and alive. I don't know why, but I'm just falling in love with sunsets and sunrises again. I was able to focus my time on the things which bring me fulfillment, like working on my business, doing sports or learning a new hobby. I normally needed a lot of motivation in order to get started with those activities, but from time to time they kind of became effortless. 5:40 a.m.
Conclusions:
Let's do this. I not only became more productive and focused, but I overall feel like everything around me started to slow down. Can you see how fast the clouds are moving? It's insane. Not having all of these distractions at my fingertips allowed me to finally catch a breath and wipe my mind clean of any stressful thoughts.
These 7 days really showed me once again how much noise we usually expose ourselves to on a daily basis. It was mind-opening to see how lowering our excessive consumption can improve so many aspects of our lives and therefore our overall happiness. I think that a detox like this can help everyone to see what it's like to live without this noise and it is the first step to gain back control over your own life. So, try it for yourself.