Dopamine Sickness

The Pour Over: Dompaine Sickness, by Cal Newport.
We’re tired. Yes, I am tired, and you, if you can muster the energy to read this, are likely tired too.

I've been taking 20-minute walks/runs over lunch for the past month. It's nearly the same loop every time. I walk out my front door, turn right, another right, walk into an open field, turn right again, follow the dirt walking trail until I take another right onto a paved path and then a right back on the main street my house is on. It’s simple.

I typically bring my phone and listen to an audiobook or podcast. I binged Scott Galloway’s “The Algebra of Wealth,” and I’m about ¾ of the way through Marcus Aurelius’ “Meditations.” It’s a great mid-day reset for my mind.

Just before leaving my house today, I caught myself looking into Cal Newport for a client’s campaign. I’ve worked with him over the years for clients but never really consumed his content (regretfully as his content is great).

It was a short video about a term he believes he coined “Dopamine Sickness.”

Newport explains that constant exposure to digital distractions can lead to a state where the brain becomes essentially fried, making it difficult to focus on longer, more complex tasks. As a result, you feel sick from the dopamine.

Inspired by Newport’s video, I “raw dogged” my walk today.

It’s not as impressive as a 14-hour flight without headphones, a phone, or any other form of distraction as many on social media have been recently—but for this digital nomad, it was eye-opening.

I felt the heat on the right of my neck as the sun beat down. I could hear the crickets chittering in the tall grass at my feet. The trees blowing in the wind put a slight hush on the Ring Road traffic only 200 meters from me.

This wasn’t the hottest day I walked or the windiest, and I imagine the crickets had been there all along, but I never really noticed them.

Today, with newfound awareness, I veered off my normal path by introducing a left turn. Along the dirt path, I took an offshoot that walked me through a small grouping of trees where the grass encroached on the path more. I was in Birkenstocks and found grass getting under my soles and even somehow managed to squish a bug under my toes—gross, I know.

It was a path less traveled by me and the rest of my community. And no, it wasn’t life-changing. There was no shaman with sage words or a golden tablet that would lead me down a religious crusade. It was just different. And it was… wait for it… nice.

We are in a State of Overwhelm

As a society, specifically in the West, we are constantly in a state of information overwhelm. Information travels too quickly and doesn’t allow people to rest on an idea.

In the past, philosophers might take years, decades, or even their entire lives pondering an idea. Today, we move through ideas faster than Amazon delivers for Prime customers.

In 1982, Buckminster Fuller studied the rate of knowledge becoming readily available to society. As a result of his research “he noticed that until 1900, human knowledge approximately doubled every century linearly. By 1945, it was doubling every 25 years, and by 1982, it was doubling every 12-13 months. According to an estimate by IBM, human knowledge will be doubling every 12 hours in the year 2020.” Source

We have more access to information than ever before, yet I, and I imagine you, experience greater indecisiveness than ever before.

The Result:

Got a problem? Just ask ChatGPT.

We’re outsourcing our thinking to free up our ability to think. It’s a bit ironic.

No, I don’t think AI is bad or that we should pursue automation. But in our pursuit of automation, we lose autonomy.

We need to be careful. I need to be careful, I should say. You should think for yourself.

My former boss at Füm, Daniel, regularly participates in “Dopamine Fasts” as a means of resetting himself. It’s a practice we all should take seriously (I say as I’ve never attempted more than a coffee fast for a month).

No video games. No movies. No social media. No/limited sugar. No alcohol. No Caffeine. No fun… temporarily.

I’m not sure I have the mental stamina for a week of this or even a day. But I can start with a 20-minute walk and still see benefits.

Maybe I’m late to the game and many of you are already deep in this practice at a much deeper level than I am. But if not, try it. Take a device-free walk today and reply to this email with your experience. What did you see, feel, smell, hear?

I think this is most true for those of us in the digital world working with creators. Every day I’m faced with 100s of creators to vet for brands. Some are politically left, some are politically right, some just want to share their lives and some are so ambiguous your brain hurts trying to understand who even watches their content.

I rarely have the capacity to finish a T.V. show unless it stars Chef Carmy or I force myself to sit in a theatre. And I LOVE cinema. Seriously. My dream is to bring coffee on set to Chris Nolan. I’d pay. But alas, it’s a task now to sit and enjoy content over 30 minutes.

It’s hard to avoid the very gratifying short attention span content we are faced with daily.

I can’t scroll TikTok anymore. I’ve deleted it off my phone… though I’ve just resorted to YouTube Shorts and Reels for slightly less “Brainrot.”

Here are some ideas for those of you like me who live in a very digital world but are looking to reset your dopamine receptors. Find a task you do daily where you use your phone and put your phone in a separate room.

For me, that’s brewing coffee.

In the morning, I typically wake up and while brewing my coffee I skim emails, look at trending content, and completely forget the craft of the coffee I’m making… V60 pour over with a 16:1 ratio for those who asked.

Something You Can Try:

Try one of these:

• Take a device-less walk.

• Mow your lawn, with your phone in the house.

• Grocery shop, no phone (bring a physical list).

Pretty much any mundane activity, but without your phone is a great start.

Leave it in your car when you go for dinner, don’t take it in the bathroom, etc.

It’s Dangerous to Leave It Unfixed

The real crux of dopamine sickness is that it holds you back from seeing how good things are in front of you. It can lead you to make drastic decisions that aren’t aligned with what’s good for you.

You could have your dream job, dream salary, dream friend group, and so on. Everything on paper is what you’ve looked forward to but yet you still feel burnt. That’s not a good feeling.

I’ve been here.

Give your brain a break to reset your dopamine receptors a bit. Little by little allow boredom back in and start opening up your senses to the things around you.

I’d wager, you’ll become a better employee and you might enjoy that cup of morning coffee that much more. That first coffee back after a coffee fast hits differently.

Up Next:

This email is a bit different than my typical industry breakdowns, but I have a post coming soon that I think you’ll find interesting.

I’m talking through how I set up campaigns for success in election season. Stupid and illogical uses of DAI, and my Podcast Movement predictions.

I’d love to hear your PM predictions.

Maybe even create a bingo card of things people hear/say at PM? Jay Green and I joked about this a year back. I think it’s time for it to happen.

A few starter ideas:

Find someone with a Podscribe hat, attend a Dan Granger panel on brand safety, listen to someone pitch their podcast, and have a conversation about how everyone should avoid buying a pass as all they do is sit at the lobby bar and talk.

What is missing?