I have heard stuff like dopamine desensitization but was never explained properly about what actually happens inside the brain.
I am interested in knowing what happens inside the brain, the neurobiological stuff (sorry if I used the wrong word)
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From what I can see, most mentions of dopamine (even in the answers) are used as a euphemism for a drug-like addictive effect. This is not accurate, as while dopamine appears to be crucial for pleasure, does not by itself produce a pleasurable sensation. Nor does providing someone with dopaminergic agents automatically result in addiction. Furthermore, dopamine is responsible for many essential functions in the brain.
Your brain uses a lot of information to decide whether what happens after we do something is valuable. If it decides that it is, dopamine is released which helps the brain draw a connection between what you did and what happened next. That means we learn that doing what we did again will get us more of that valuable thing (this isn’t always something that is pleasurable). The more times it happens, the stronger that learning is and the more often we will do that again.
Because TikTok videos are short, immediate and the more you use it the more likely that it shows you a video that you’ll like, those are things that the brain finds valuable. If you imagine that the brain is always comparing different options for what you should do next, the value of using the app is higher than for example doing homework or making dinner(except when the deadline is two hours away, or when you’re starving). So more often than not, you’ll just keep scrolling instead of switching to doing something else. There are strategies and interventions that can help overcome this, but some people will need more help than others.
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