dopamine addiction

[Anonymous No.18916120]

How do you start reading? I recently bought a few books with the aim of reading them but I have no motivation to do so. How do you get motivated and stay motivated when reading a book, especially after dulling your brain reward systems with vidya and such?

[Anonymous No.18916133]

Stop feeling sorry for yourself

[Anonymous No.18916153]

>>18916133
What do you mean? I'm not.

[Anonymous No.18916181]

>>18916120
>dulling your brain reward systems with vidya and such?
Stop playing vidya.

[Anonymous No.18916186]

>>18916181
I don't. I said after.

[Anonymous No.18916193]

>dopamine addiction

No such thing. Dopamine is released when you're about to do something rewarding which gives you that motivated feeling of anticipation. It's just something that tells you that what you about to do is a worthwhile activity based on previous experience. All you need to do is find something rewarding about books and remember the experience and you'll naturally feel a drive towards more reading next time. What rewarding means to you is quite subjective, but I think most people that started young were simply encouraged by their parents and remember that experience of social validation for being a smarty pants. If you can't get into books, just try something else. Reading fiction is about as good as playing video games anyway, but vidya can also be social and help keep your mind sharp, nothing wrong with it.

[Anonymous No.18916199]

>>18916120
I'm kind of like this but not quite as bad. I read in the morning and before I go to sleep but I almost never read during the day even when bored, I just browse 4chan and other time wasting shit

[Anonymous No.18916238]

>>18916120
Why can't videogames and books coexist? I beat between 50 and 60 single player (I don't play online, at all) and read, again, between 50 and 60 books a year. I never understood the "reward system", maybe because I mostly play for the story or gameplay.

[Anonymous No.18916281]

>>18916120
Five years ago I just made a decision to read for 2 hours a day. If I could afford to play 6 hours of vidya for shits, I could put 2 of those hours into this thing I always felt like I was curious about.

Discipline.
Discipline.
You do it even when you feel like something else "sounds" more fun. Being a lazy walker always sounds like more fun, but I don't reflect on my lazy walking with fondness. Pushing myself to read the book often felt troubling and demanding, but when I was done and later also, I always had something to smile about in my memory and turn over and develop greater fondness towards. The book stays with you in a far different way than farming trash mobs for a crafting material. It's fruit isn't easy to reach, but it is savory. The fruit of vidya, or Twitter, or YouTube, but the taste of its memory is of ash and sulphur.

You just have to decide if you truly want to commit to the thing, and deal with being ignorant for a long time until enough pieces start to click and settle into place that you discern and appreciate the collective tapestry that all literature contributes to. Being ignorant again isn't fun, but to learn anything new it must be done.

[Anonymous No.18916299]

>>18916120
If you don't want to read, don't. I'm not trying to act smug or condescending. There's nothing special about reading as an act. You're not less of a human because you don't read, you can still be a highly capable, intellectually impressive individual without touching a single fiction or philosophy book in your life. Read if you find joy in reading.

[Anonymous No.18916383]

>>18916238
this, i don’t get how people can do one thing all day long and not get bored. throughout a day i’ll read for a few hours, game for a few hours, and watch youtube and/or a movie.

[Anonymous No.18916440]

>>18916120
Turn off your phone, read. Its that simple. You're just making excuses for your laziness, I do the same.

[Anonymous No.18916564]

>>18916281
You're right I guess. It's like how I was when cutting out coffee. Tried to for many years, but when I actually disciplined myself I did it and it was beneficial for me.

[Anonymous No.18917180]

Crank it, get it outta yr system and then just read a book. Simple as.

[Anonymous No.18917206]

>>18916238
They can coexist as long as you strike a balance.
And by the way, 60 games is a very high number unless you play short indie games. I could barely beat 20 games in my peak and nowadays, I beat at most 5.

[Anonymous No.18918274]

>>18916120
>vidya
If you use this word, kill yourself.

[Anonymous No.18918308]

>>18918274

[Anonymous No.18918318]

>>18918274
that’s not very based of you, anon

[Anonymous No.18918339]

>>18916120
Unironically shit like goodreads
I like seeing the virtual shelves fill up.

[Anonymous No.18918475]

>>18916120
Just pick them up and read, start out slow if you have a zoomie attention span. your brain will adapt. Do not listen to any of these retards telling you to stop playing vidya, you can do both.

[Anonymous No.18918502]

>>18916133
tl;dr

[Anonymous No.18918505]

>>18916120
Stop playing multiplayer games and start playing single player ones. Video games and fiction are mostly the same, try to savor the artistry involved in each of the crafts.

[Anonymous No.18918521]

>>18917206
There aren't even 5 good games released per year 2bh

[Anonymous No.18918793]

>>18916120
stop cooming. stop looking at porn. stop playing video games. work hard during the day at something you like doing then go read a book after to relax.

[Anonymous No.18918842]

>>18916120
It's incredibly difficult to separate yourself from dopamine-distractors these days -- especially if you live in the city. But just think of it this way: what would the average person in, say, the year 1900 be doing with his spare time? Reading? Maybe. Gardening? Possibly. Drinking with friends? Almost a given past a certain age. And then think to yourself -- what were they not doing? Playing vidya, watching anime, hanging out on their socials, etc. You don't have to go full caveman, but it would be in your best interest to de-tech your habits. Godspeed, brother.

[Anonymous No.18918941]

>>18918521
I just play old games

[Anonymous No.18918970]

>>18918505
A really good single player game is unironically the closest art form to literature. What else is actively consumed?

[Anonymous No.18919011]

>>18918842
People back then definitely wasted their time with parties and pointless social activities, if my 19th century novels are anything to go by. It's not like you have to be a god of productivity to match their writings. Just probably stop being on your phone/PC all the damn time and spend some time thinking in solitude.

[Anonymous No.18919061]

I post this reply to no-one in particular but I think it's a point that often goes missed: There is a difference between how much different people like different things.
For example, I really like Overwatch. I can spend 8 hours a day playing, and in fact I have done that for weeks at a time. Before Overwatch came out, it was other games. I can play until my back screams in pain from sitting motionless in the same chair for days, and still I don't get tired of it. I have an infinite, insatiable appetite for FPS games, and no analog activity even comes close to simulating me the same way. It takes a significant amount of willpower to consume video games in moderation because it's all I want to do.
That said, I don't have an "addictive personality" in general. I don't drink or do any drugs and I'm not fat. It takes no willpower for me not to be fat because I don't experience any desire to overeat in the first place.
So, when you give each other advice about how to do x instead of y, it's not really universally applicable.

[Anonymous No.18919074]

>>18918308
Rare Hank

[Anonymous No.18920458]

>DOPAMINE DOPAMINE DOPAMINE
Fuck off with this Mothers "welness" group tier obsession with dopamine and "burning out" your dopamine receptors (literally impossible).

[Anonymous No.18921737]

>oh no bros i can't enjoy this painfully tedious activity called reading. are my dopamine receptors fried??? i only enjoy fun stuff that's literally designed to be extremely compelling. how come i like to look at naked women on the internet??? wtf something is wrong with me!! i wish i could enjoy reading textbooks and 18th century novels...

[Anonymous No.18921916]

>>18916120
I read best when I bike down to a local coffee shop. The exercise + atmosphere feels very comfy and conducive to reading, though now I end up having trouble reading at home in comparison

>>18921737
Nothing wrong with trying to cut down on instant-gratification activities and replace some of that time with delayed gratification

[Anonymous No.18921936]

>>18916120
I want this man to sodomize me. That is all.

[Anonymous No.18921944]

>I am ADDICTED to not reading books

[Anonymous No.18921974]

>>18916193
>Nah bro, there is no such thing as a meth addiction
>if you keep doing it despite your despair it just means that's what you were meant to do, don't stop bro

[Anonymous No.18922028]

>>18916238
Vidya and other hobbies can coexist. However, most men who play vidya overindulge.
There is nothing wrong with spending an average of an hour a day or so on vidya, but when you start neglecting other more productive hobbies in favour of the dopamine kicks from vidya you are in trouble.
Videogames arent bad for you, addiction to videogames is.

[Anonymous No.18922041]

OP this shit isn't real why do you buy into it? Read something you're interested in, if it's vidya related read that be it a book, or wiki entries. There is no reward for reading.

[Anonymous No.18922260]

>>18921974
Obviously a chemical addiction is different, dumbass. There's a difference between dopamine getting released naturally and using a drug to make your brain go haywire.

Dopamine is a natural part of your brain chemistry and it serves a vital role in motivation and reward systems. Saying you're addicted to dopamine is like saying you're addicted to breathing air. You release dopamine when you think about gaming because gaming has proven itself to be rewarding to you and your brain is simply giving you a hint. The problem is not dopamine but rather your experiences so far that have been limiting. If OP read a book he genuinely enjoyed, beyond pseud posturing, he would naturally release more dopamine when thinking about reading, creating an anticipatory feeling you could call "motivation". He has more memories of enjoying gaming and porn than Dostoyevski and his motivation reflects that.

Saying it's "dopamine addiction" is a fundamental misunderstanding of how dopamine works. Someone that can play vidya for 8 hours and someone that can read for 8 hours are both releasing dopamine. You might have an opinion on the value of each hobby, but the biological mechanisms are the same. Whether you find gaming or reading more compelling is all about your previous experiences and how you've experienced each activity so far. Like I've said, someone that's been encouraged from a young age will build up a lot of memories of being rewarded, whether directly through the use of his knowledge or indirectly by praise and social validation from others. If someone grew up with gaming, they'll have more memories of rewarding experiences surrounging that activity and will naturally find it more compelling. This is not addiction, it's just LEARNING. Unironically, read a fucking book.

[Anonymous No.18922470]

>>18916120
You can't just start with really good books, the people you see around you reading the "le smart" books read harry potter, goosebumps and the hunger games in their younger years. This, although not intellectually stimulating, will instill a habit of reading, which is the most important thing, first you need to have the ability to sit down and read for an hour or two just like you watch tv or play vidya. So how do you start?
You start with something you can enjoy and look forward to reading, not something complicated which may be worthwhile but is read out of a sense of obligation and not out of interest. Start with a short 100 page book, maybe a novella or a play. Read fiction with elementary writing, it can be YA, chick lit, a light novel, even literal smut. Once you've done this for a month or so, start to broaden your horizons little by little.

[Anonymous No.18922653]

>>18922470
Yeah I've thought about this, I have gotten a sort of short book which should be good for me.

[Anonymous No.18922963]

>>18922260
Absolutely false. Video games act like chemical drugs, they induce a similar trance-like state.
People who play video games for 8 hours a day don't enjoy it. They need the vidya to feel numb and if they quit they feel withdrawal.

[Anonymous No.18923052]

>>18916281
I always founder on the awareness that it's possible to push yourself too hard and burn out, so i don't know how hard to push myself and end up not pushing myself at all

[Anonymous No.18923712]

>>18922963
That's bullshit. There's nothing inherent in video gaming that interacts with your brain the way drugs do. I mean, think about it, you're just staring at a screen, doing some arbitrary task, how is that in any way like a drug? Sure, games are designed to be psychologically rewarding by utilizing meaningful progression, curiosity, challenge, competition and other aspects that you might find in real life activities, but it's not a drug anymore than playing a board game or hitting a ball in your backyard.

The trance state you mention is actually called flow and it's another part of normal cognition where your subconscious takes over when you are sufficiently engaged and skilled in a task. You can get the same "trance" state while driving, taking a shower, drawing, riding a bike etc.

As for video game addiction, there's no such thing because there's no chemical interaction whatsoever. Even if someone plays for 8 hours, neglecting his life completely, this is still dopamine functioning normally. The pathology is not caused by a dysfunction of his dopamine transmitters or really any chemical imbalance, but rather much more complex factors like previous experience and current environment.

Consider why someone would play video games for 8 hours every day -- because their repertoire of rewarding activities is completely empty and they have nothing else left, nothing that's as much "bang for your buck". This is also why people get hooked on actual drugs. Consider googling about the rat park experiment, where rats were offered morphine instead of water and only a small percentage of rats would get "addicted", the other ones occasionally had a taste but they would rather go socialize and mate with other rats. The conclusion of the experiment was that if you limit the rats repertoire of rewards i.e. by locking him in a cage instead of letting him roam around and fuck other rats, they would naturally end up engaging in the only source of reward they had -- morphine, to the point where they died.

The point is, some activities can become more compelling simply because you have no other options. If you can choose between gaming, fucking, exercise, hanging out with friends, playing with your dog etc. you're less likely to end up "addicted" to any one source of reward.

[Anonymous No.18923775]

>>18923712
You're wrong and should learn more about the actual stuff you're talking about instead of trying to intuit shit like a pseud.

[Anonymous No.18923796]

>>18923775
Well, give me the link to the soccer mom facebook group where you realized video games were evil demonic drugs that turn kids into serial shooters.

[Anonymous No.18923798]

>>18916120
Read better books

[Anonymous No.18923810]

>>18923775
kek how's the nofap going?

[Anonymous No.18924498]

>>18916193
>Reading fiction is about as good as playing video games
You do know that there are varying levels of stimulation and dopamine release in activities?
A fast-paced videogame with flashing colours, gunfights, explosions, and music is much more stimulating, and releases more dopamine than reading.
Reading your post sounds like you think that an adrenaline junkie skydiving, a person eating junk food, and a person reading Hegel experience the same exhilarating dopamine releases. No they fucking don't.

>>18916120
It will be a long and painful process of keeping away from your phone, blocking youtube and other social media, staying focused on one task at a time, not listening to music or podcasts throughout your day (and when you do, 100% of your attention must be on the music, no multitasking), going on walks without your phone, even meditating if you have the patience

[Anonymous No.18924990]

>>18916193
Vidya and porn are levels of stimulus that nothing can compete with.

Like asking a heroin addict to “just use Vicodin lol”

You have to detox.

[Anonymous No.18925158]

>>18919061
>I don't have an addictive personality because I don't do drugs or overeat
Most people who have addictive personalities are only addicted to one or two things. You are an addict and your addiction is whatever flashy FPS game comes out.

[Anonymous No.18925176]

>>18916120
this is not real its photoshopeed

[Anonymous No.18925557]

>>18925158
i only play high brow kino though. what now?

[Anonymous No.18925573]

>>18919011
Agreed. They absolutely wasted their time -- just in less overwhelming ways, I'd argue. Freeing yourself from even one of the contemporary dopamine traps is usually enough for people to right themselves.

[Anonymous No.18925697]

>>18923775
So what extraneous chemical does videogames introduce into your body like any drug?

[Anonymous No.18925748]

>>18916120
he was definetely right, womyn interrupting a mans workout is never fuckable-sized.

[Anonymous No.18925789]

stop acting like a bitch turn off your computer and read the book

[Anonymous No.18925807]

>>18923712
Big brain take, ascetics who swear off any form of entertainment BTFO

[Anonymous No.18925861]

>>18916120
>i-it’s not my fault, video games made me stupid!
just read retard I’m tired of seeing pathetic cop outs of responsibility from you fags. I play more vidya than you AND I read more than you. it’s not hard in fact it’s very enjoyable