Eli5: Why do some tasks release enough dopamine to keep you engaged for hours (scrolling on a phone app) while other tasks with similar effort output (answering an email/doing work on your phone) seems so exhausting?
In: Biology
Dopamine is largely used as a “reward” in the brain, getting released when you complete something. Social media is engineered so that you are interacting with potentially dozens of posts each minute, with each interaction counting as a “completion” and earning that dopamine kick. Additionally, when you’ve interacted with one post, the post right below it serves to “tease” your brain with the prospect of another kick, keeping you engaged in the app.
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