Why have Silicon Valley billionaires adopted the no-SEX and no-PIZZA regimes?
After making the black turtle neck fashionable, the tech-heads are on their way to make no dopamine life dope.
The famous silicon valley is Mecca to any aspiring techie. It has been home to some of the most prominent personalities in the tech universe and headquarters to multibillion-dollar businesses.
These creators not only stimulate our lives with the latest inventions and snatched gadgets, but establishments such as Airbnb and Uber have redefined the e-commerce experience by creating a worldwide network of phenomenal homes or automobiles at your gate in 3 minutes.
But their latest offering to the long list of trends born from the soil of geek valley, i.e., dopamine fasting, has baffled the ordinary lads like you and me.
This new fashion alters with the chemical messenger called dopamine. Dopamine is responsible for the feeling of pleasure and reward; hence they are banning the activities leading to the synthesis of dopamine like sex, internet gaming, validation on social media, or food items that become addictive.
They strive to achieve inner bliss in the billion-dollar madness and attempt to go one on one with themselves by gaining balance and control over desire and senses like the yogis in Himalaya.
Just like a lot of other people, my semi-tech educated mother sends me inspiring good morning quotes, flowers, or any other spiritual messages hoping it would ground me and help me appreciate little things in life. Sometimes they do hit the spot, but most of the time, I don't bother reading them and ignore them send a flower emoji. Dopamine fasting and our mothers have the same end goal grounding us, stopping us from drowning in the fancy of glitter, and getting blinded by all those allures.
Where most of us look forward weekend, a glass of wine, or a low-key pizza date, these billionaires are taking it to the extreme and depriving themselves of these common stimulants.
During the early times, the man had a difficult life with little to no comforts, but now we have access to instant gratification and immediate sorrow; having a social media presence can be both toxic and uplifting; a few positive comments make us feel wonderful about ourselves, and few bad ones have us overly depressed.
Happiness has become directly proportional to the number of likes and followers.
Dopamine is considered a neurotransmitter that anticipates rewards. It pushes us to work towards the actions that will ultimately make us happy, like eating, reading, sex, a massage, or anything else that causes excellent stimulation. This constant stimulation is considered enslavement by a few wellness experts and gurus.
It is also believed that overstimulation of dopamine or, in other words, addiction to particular things is a form of co-dependency. Even compared to alcohol or drug abuse cases, these actions are overdoing, or constant consumption and reliance make our system numb to those substances and tolerant of their effects. Breaking the habit and abstaining from addictions is the ultimate goal.
The Problem with the concept of dopamine fasting.
It is believed that Dopamine cannot be erased from our body, and stimulation in itself is neutral where an individual defines the assertive or adverse effects along with the style of processing, trauma history, baggage, etc.
Another misconception is that we, as humans, have the ability to control our neurotransmitter function, which is not valid, according to medicine and science. As we are simply not letting the neurons, fire the signal, and that’s it.
Some believe that the concept of dopamine fasting is very similar to going on a crash diet. Whereas, as soon as the regime ends, you might get back to where you started and might end up feeling worse.
As this fasting requires an absolute restrain from pleasure and later an explosion of happy hormones, this can become an addictive practice and a cycle of extremism. Hence, another possible problem with dopamine fast is developing an addiction to the extreme sense of pleasure.
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey is believed to fast for 22 hours a day, and during certain days he lives on water only. Many criticisms came against such intense dieting regimes, and they believe this to be a genuine health concern or an eating disorder instead of stimulus control exercise.
Hence, instead of depriving ourselves completely of something, we must opt for moderation, regulation, and replenishment, As cognitive-behavioral therapy, suggests that deprivation leads to even more craving.
People on dopamine fasts believe that deprivation today will offer an enhanced sensory experience tomorrow. In simplified terms, if you avoid eating pizza for a while, according to dopamine fasters, it will taste even better when you finally have one.
By doing so, they mean to enhance their happiness and reduce their sorrows, as the end goal is to achieve victory over our senses and emotions. And earn a perfect state of equilibrium where the inside is not affected by the outside world. They are working towards the state of harmony or nirvana, where you are in oneness with the soul, and you don't get overly influenced by the joys and sorrows of ordinary life.
Thank you, and see you in the dopamine fasting fad club, or maybe not.
