Dopamine flooding
Source: BenBernstein
When I made a playdate with my 15-year-old cousin, I was specific: “Bring a VR headset. I want to see how it all works.” At 74 years old, I’ve had very limited exposure to virtual reality, and I know this kid is totally addictive.
It immediately gets us into a game: one of the players puts on the headset and holds the controllers in his hands. Once in the world of virtual reality, he is in front of a huge bomb that will explode in five minutes unless he defuses it. The other player (not wearing a headset) reads the instructions for defusing the bomb. The instructions are quite complicated – there are many different parts to the bomb: colored wires to cut, switches to turn off, and buttons to press. The clock is counting down. If you don’t defuse the bomb in time, it explodes and explodes with it.
I put on my headset, and I listen as my cousin (I’ll call him “The Kid”) gives me basic instructions on how to use the controllers. The clock is ticking. Oh, wow. I See the bomb! It’s the big blocky thing with all sorts of things on it. The kid was calling out the instructions, “Cut the blue wire!”
At first, I didn’t see the blue wire, but when I did, I immediately hit a snag with the controllers. I could not translate the verbal instructions into my fingers. I got some right directions, but I realized I was so afraid of blowing myself up that I tore my headset off and stopped the game at the four-minute mark. We tried it again and two more times I was charged anxiety I stopped before the big bang. On the fourth try, I thought, I wouldn’t really explode. This is it virtual reality. Face afraid! I am the Stress Doctor! I took a deep breath and tried to follow his instructions, but my awkward maneuvers caused the dumb grenade to slide off the table and fall to the floor. Dang! bubble!
Although my physical body wasn’t shattered into a million fragments, and my virtual reality body didn’t turn into a billion dots, I found myself Laugh Hysterically as the old kid rolled his eyes and made a snide remark, “Born!”
I couldn’t help but notice how amplify I felt. I felt that high! This is the same feeling I had 50 years ago when I was on drugs.
I just wanted to play again.
The boy and I went out for burgers. I asked him how he was doing at school. He rolled his eyes. I asked him what that means. “I’m not doing very well,” he said, averting his gaze. “I don’t do my homework.”
I said, “Let me guess, the homework is intense Boring. ” to reply , “The school Not so boring.”
Here you are. What could compete with your neurons flooding dopamine Caused by playing in the world of virtual reality and video games? Dopamine makes you feel happy and satisfied Stimulate. The increase in dopamine makes your brain feel relaxed, like you’ve achieved something. Geometry, nouns, adjectives, and the War of 1812 don’t stand a chance.
The boy’s parents believe he did ADHD. not him. The virtual world completely locks him in Attention. This adds another layer to why ADHD is so often misdiagnosed, if not false. teens. (See my previous post, What is the real “deficit” in ADHD?).
My hangout with the kid exposed another layer of attention issues: difficulty paying attention to everyone else. As we were chowing down on burgers and flipping ketchup on fries, the kid talked himself incessantly with remarkable ease. Show little interest in me.
In the competitive virtual world, you are either opposing everyone else or you are on a team that outlasts or eliminates other teams. Sure, there are virtual experiences related to building cooperation And society, but these are not the ones who hang teenagers.
The game we played was called, Keep talking and nobody explodes. Alas, I can imagine a second or third generation called Keep playing and everyone has a blast.
Then, when we biked home, a curious thing happened. Suddenly, the kid asked, “Ben, are you religious?”
Wow, there is more to his world than headphones, controllers, and exploding bombs.
Gleam of hope!
Originally posted 2022-11-20 09:52:43.