How Social Media Hacks Your Dopamine System - Neuroscientist Andrew Huberman

The Nugget

Our phones can trigger a dopamine rush initially, but scrolling on social media can lead to obsessive-compulsive behaviors due to algorithms providing intermittent random rewards.

Make it stick

📱 Dopamine: about novelty, surprise, and excitement
🔄 Obsessive-compulsive behavior: obsession leads to compulsion, no payoff like anxiety relief
💡 Algorithms: use random intermittent rewards to keep users engaged
🧠 Transition: from dopamine-driven excitement to OCD-like behavior

Dopamine is released when seeking novelty and excitement, while serotonin induces satisfaction and contentment.
Serotonin's presence can lead to feeling satisfied and comfortable within one's own immediate surroundings.

Initially, cell phones can release a significant amount of dopamine due to the novelty factor.
Scrolling on social media can transition to obsessive-compulsive behavior as the dopamine rush fades.
Algorithms on social media platforms use intermittent random rewards to keep users engaged.
The transition from dopamine-driven excitement to OCD-like behavior can lead to mindless scrolling and seeking the next dopamine hit.

"Dopamine is about novelty, surprise, and the sense that we are on some exciting track."
"Scrolling on social media shifts over to something that's a bit more like an obsessive-compulsive behavior."
"The algorithms function on the most powerful way to keep people doing a behavior... intermittent random reward."
"I look at social media as initially being very dopaminergic, driving reward, surprise, and excitement."
"If you saw an animal digging in the corner looking for a bone, you'd think that's really sad. That's us. What's happening to people."

This summary contains AI-generated information and may have important inaccuracies or omissions.