📌Living in the So Xiao era, be careful of cheap dopamine.

"Cheap dopamine," or Cheap Dopamine, is a cheap pleasure, a simple, quick and no-effort stimulation of good feelings in the brain - but the result is often short and leaves a void behind.

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter linked to "reward expectations," not just happiness. The problem is that the brain does not distinguish whether reward is "real value."

Such as

Social Media - TikTok Scroll, Short Clip, Instagram, Press Like / Crew,

Food - Sugar, Fries, Fast Food

Shopping - Keep watching Shopee / Lazada.

🌑 why scary?

1. The brain is so used to stimulation that it needs more and more to feel the same good.

For example, let's say the first day of playing TikTok, 10 minutes → It's fun, exciting, it's over, it's satisfied, it's over, it's over, it's over, it's over, after doing this every day for two months, 10 minutes, it's 10 minutes, it's 10 minutes, it's about not feeling anything, it's about 45 minutes to feel "enough."

2.Break the pleasure baseline. When familiar with high stimulation, normal activities (reading, walking, talking) will feel more "boring."

3. Disrupt Deep Work, the brain addicted to cheap dopamine will sit and focus on difficult tasks, very difficult.

4. Endless loop loop. The more stressful → the cheaper dopamine → the more does not solve the real problem → the more stressful

🌟 better alternative (Expensive Dopamine)

These give dopamine as well, but must be active, patient to achieve it, and the effect is more sustainable.

• Exercise

• Learn new skills

• Creative

• Deep relationships

• Achieve long-term goals, etc.

📍 summary. Cheap happiness vs expensive.

Cheap happiness is something that feels good immediately without effort, but the effect is short, and the more used, the more the brain needs.

Expensive happiness is something that requires patience or discomfort first, but when it comes, good feelings are deeper and last longer.

🎯 Solution to not be addicted to cheap dopamine or cheap pleasure

Step 1 - Know first

Observe yourself

Awareness - Catch what you do.

Before you solve it, you need to know what you're addicted to and when you're doing it.

Remember or remember how many times today I picked up the phone for no reason.

Notice the "trigger" - bored? stressed? Or just a habit?

Use Screen Time (iOS) or Digital Wellbeing (Android). Watch Real Time.

Step 2 - Reduce stimulation

Organize the environment

Friction - Making Temptations Harder to Reach

The brain always chooses the easiest thing. If it makes it a little harder, the chances of doing it are much lower.

Remove social apps from the home screen. Move to the last page.

Set App Limit like Tikka / IG for only 30 minutes / day

Put the phone in another room when eating or before going to bed.

Close all unnecessary notifications

Step 3 - Replace with something better.

Create new habits.

Replaced - Don't just stop. Gotta replace it with

The brain needs stimulation. It's not enough to tell me to stop.

When feeling bored - short walk, stretch, pick up a book

When feeling stressed - take a deep breath, write down what is thought.

To scroll the feed - read long articles, podcast with substance

When wanting to eat, kiss, sip - drink water, eat nuts, fruit.

# Lemon 8 Howtoo # Knowledge