We could spend hours playing video games or browsing social media on our phones. But what about half an hour of studying or working on pending office tasks? Uff. That might be too hard. But Why?

The answer is Dopamine.

Dopamine is often considered a pleasure molecule. But that’s not everything that it is. Dopamine is what makes us desire things. And it’s that desire that gives us the motivation to do things. The evolutionary aspect of the Dopamine, could be to motivate us to do things like eating, sleeping, mating etc. Things that are necessary to keep our species (Homosapiens) alive. It is based on Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution Through Natural Selection.

Effect of Dopamine – The rat experiment

So, as not to diminish the effect of dopamine on us, let us go through the famous experiment done on rats — ‘pleasure electrodes.’

The Experiment

The researchers implanted electrodes in the brains of rats. Whenever the rat pulled the lever, the rat would receive tiny jolts of current injected through electrodes implanted deep within their brains. Especially when this brain stimulation was targeted at certain areas (Brain’s reward system areas) of the brain, the rats would repeatedly press the lever — even up to 2000 times per hour. The result was that the rats developed a craving to pull the lever. So much so that the rats would refuse to eat or even sleep. They would just keep pressing the lever until they would drop from exhaustion.

Present World

With social media becoming an integral part of our daily life, we are flooding our brains with large amounts of dopamine on a daily basis, without even knowing it.

Some examples of high dopamine behaviours include: scrolling through social media websites, playing video games etc. Social media apps use techniques that encourage addictive behaviours.

Also read: Temptation of Junk Food: Unraveling the Science Behind It

The Problem

Because of so much dopamine, releasing in our brains on a daily basis. We develop a dopamine tolerance. This results in us, not doing the things – things that don’t give much dopamine, regular day-to-day activities like studying, going to office, working on the project. So it’s much more difficult to motivate ourselves to do them. They feel monotonous and less motivating.

The solution (Discipline)

So, what could we do to not become captive of instant gratification?
The answer is simple – social-media detox.

How to develop self-discipline ?

Willpower is like a muscle, it gets tired from overuse and requires food to replenish. And with the right practice, willpower can be strengthened just like any other muscle in the body.

It’s tempting to surrender to gratifications and forget our long-term goals. But one should – stay regular. Perseverance is the key.