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?

Question

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

Answer 1

I might be wrong here, but here’s my understanding of it.

You naturally optimize for most dopamine from least effort. Thinking burns energy, so theres much more spend on a thought out email or in depth discussion, vs passively taking in posts.

Posting memes or short posts has slightly more spend, but with a much higher potential dopamine payout – 100s or 1000s of upvotes. Emails generally have a smaller audience, only a few payouts on dopamine.