Day 26
I scrolled last night before bed.
It lasted twelve minutes.
Instantly, I became keenly aware of the mindless scrolling—yet I continued—that’s the power of old neuropathway ruts in the brain.
I’m grateful to understand the power of addiction, thanks to recovering from an addiction to hyper-palatable foods and compulsive eating years ago. . .and a recent recovery from compulsive dieting.
Throughout these past fifteen years, I’ve gone deep into the science of addiction, so that’s been helping me on this digital journey as well.
Dr. Kardaras (author of Glow Kids and Digital Madness) was contracted by the US Department of Defense to do trainings for the military on how to treat video game addiction.
“Gaming addiction is so severe in the military that there have been several documented and shocking cases of military babies dying in the crib from parental neglect as their fathers played marathon video game sessions. The problem became so significant that the DoD had to create a new cause of death for the infant death certificates: “Death due to Electronic Distractions.”
(Digital Madness, page 28)
Then, Kardaras went on to write: “I began to realize that, like those neglectful video-game-playing military fathers, we were all, to some degree or another, ‘electronically distracted’ not only from our lives but from the bigger picture as well.” (page 28)
All digital platforms, including Amazon, Etsy, eBay, YouTube, gaming stations, news sites, Airbnb, Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Instagram, etc.—although beneficial at times—they all have key elements that are designed to be addictive.
They all create instant dopamine surges/spikes in the brain.
And when a person’s brain is hijacked by addictive dopamine spikes, all rationality becomes compromised. That’s why addiction is such a powerful vortex that bypasses one’s willpower.
These platforms are called “dopaminergic drugs” that provide a shortcut to our dopamine reward system “that can be repeatedly engaged in for hours or even days at a time.” (Kardaras, Digital Madness, page 31)
Dopaminergic drugs interfere with healthy levels of dopamine in the frontal cortex of our brains.
Healthy levels of dopamine are responsible for motivation, compulsivity/impulsivity control, attention span, concentration, working memory, and achieving goals.
Dopaminergic drugs such as alcohol/food/dieting addictions, digital/gaming addictions, and compulsive gambling/shopping addictions cause participants to escape into another world—and disassociate from the present. They hijack the brain.
This escapism is real.
In 2008, a month before starting my journey to quit food addiction, I read Drunkard: A Hard-Drinking Life by Neil Steinberg.
That book cleared my sinuses and woke me from all denial that my addiction to hyper-palatable foods had the same pull as Steinberg’s alcohol addiction. . .the one drink that turns into decades of one-too-many drinks; the sip of the addictive beverage being the calm in the eye of the storm.
Likewise, I used food to disassociate from the stresses of life in the same manner in which Steinberg used alcohol.
These dopaminergic drugs: digital platforms, porn, alcohol, compulsive shopping, gambling, highly palatable foods, compulsive eating or dieting, etc. —they all provide high surges of dopamine—they all hijack the brain’s rational “braking system.” That’s why one can’t easily stop once the door is cracked open.
And that’s why I’m continuing this experiment until February 2025. (see links below)
Hopefully, by then, I’ll have a clear understanding how to use digital platforms without inciting high dopamine surges in the process.
It’s a very similar journey to learning how to eat meals for nourishment without opening the door to eating hyper-palatable foods, compulsive eating, or compulsive dieting.
All addictions slowly creep into one’s life without warning.
One becomes trapped in the web without realizing the captivity.
Last night’s scroll was a wake-up call to how quickly the rational brain can become hijacked from a dopamine spike.
It’s totally understandable how babies can die in cribs from digitally distracted parents.
The dangers of all addictions are real.
“Everything is permissible, but not all things are beneficial. Everything is permissible for me, but I will not be enslaved by anything [allowing it to control me].” (I Corinthians 6:12)
Emily Boller, artist, mother, and author of Starved to Obesity, lost 100 pounds more than fifteen years ago by eating an abundance of high-nutrient, plant-rich foods. Today, she’s certified in whole plant nutrition from the Nutritarian Education Institute. She’s on a mission to combine practical, no-nonsense and cost-effective tips—with easy to understand science—in order to help anyone escape the addictive grip of the Standard American Diet. And now, she’s on a mission to bring awareness to the suffocating and potentially deadly trap of eating disorders as well.