Beware The Dopamine Cartel – The Retirement Manifesto

In the words of Harvard University, “Dopamine can provide an intense feeling of reward.”

Its purpose is to help us feel pleasure “as part of the brain’s reward system.”

Sounds great, right?

But what happens when something that is intended for good is, instead, manipulated for less honorable purposes?

Beware…The Dopamine Cartel is doing exactly that.

It’s a dangerous trend.  J.D. Roth at Apex Money shared something a while back, and said “This topic is important enough to me that I want to spread it to as large an audience as possible.”

That “something” that he shared is the basis of today’s post.  I’m in 100% agreement with J.D. that this is a topic we all need to know about.  If you agree with us after reading today’s post, do us a favor and share this with a few friends you care about.  We all need to be aware of the danger out there. 

Beware…The Dopamine Cartel.

Dopamine is intended for good, but what happens when it gets manipulated for less honorable purposes? Beware…that’s exactly what The Dopamine Cartel is doing. Share on X

I read a lot, but it’s rare for me to be truly, deeply, impacted by something I read.

I experienced that level of impact when I read The State of the Union by Ted Gioia at The Honest Broker.  The title was misleading to me, but I was thankful I took the time to read it.  I wasn’t surprised when I saw J.D. picked it and shared it on his compilation site Apex Money (if you’re not already signed up for their free daily email, do so now – it’s one of my daily “must reads”).

If you only have time to read one article this morning, stop reading my post now and read The State of the Union instead.  Yes, it’s that good.  I’ve pulled the key highlights from that article as the basis of today’s post. 

How Addiction Is Killing Our Culture

Gioia’s premise is that our historical cultural focus on art and entertainment is being consumed by distraction (endless scrolling) and addiction (dopamine hits). Gioia lays out a strong argument that these fundamentals are changing at the fastest pace in history.  He goes so far as to say  “The entertainment industry is Dead,” and we’re witnessing “the birth of a post-entertainment culture” that “won’t help society at all.”

The effectiveness of distraction, according to Gioia, lies in “the key is that each stimulus only lasts a few seconds, and must be repeated.”

That’s by design.

Enter The Dopamine Cartel

The Distraction Industry is big business, as evidenced by the explosion of TikTok videos and Facebook’s strategic move to Reels. The trend is also evident with Instagram, YouTube shorts, and the expansion of video snippets on Twitter/X.  It’s a profitable business and more than just a trend. In Gioia’s words, “This is more than just the hot trend of 2024. It can last forever—because it’s based on body chemistry, not fashion or aesthetics.”

The resulting dopamine hit makes us feel good, so we want to repeat the stimulus.  The Dopamine Cartel has discovered the powerfully addictive ability of dopamine, and our culture is being negatively impacted as a result. Distraction has evolved into an intentional quest for neurochemical-based addiction, which Gioia summarizes well when he says:

They want to create a world of junkies—because they will be the dealers.

Addiction is the goal.

They don’t say it openly, but they don’t need to. Just look at what they do.

Everything is designed to lock users into an addictive cycle.

The executives of the tech giants know the facts. They know this addiction is harmful (as proven by countless studies showing the increased levels of depression, anxiety and suicide), but they do it anyway. “They don’t want to lose market share to the other dopamine cartel members.” Even worse, they’ve recognized that children are more easily addicted, so they’ve intentionally targeted them in their never-ending quest for market growth.

The End of Culture

“This is a new culture,” states Gioia, and “its most striking feature is the absence of Culture (capital “C”) or even mindless entertainment – both get replaced by compulsive activity.”

The most powerful graphic in the post caused me to pause when I first saw it.  I suspect you’ll have a similar reaction when you realize how wide the impact of the dopamine culture has become:

The Ugly Reality of Dopamine

Gioia makes the case that we’re all test subjects in one of the largest experiments ever conducted on mankind. This race toward dominance by the dopamine cartel has had negative impacts on all of us that are just now being studied by science. 

“Here’s where the science gets really ugly. The more addicts rely on these stimuli, the less pleasure they receive. At a certain point, this cycle creates anhedonia—the complete absence of enjoyment in an experience supposedly pursued for pleasure.”

Gioia points to research by Len Lantz, MD, outlined in his article The Most Important New Findings In Depression. It reveals new findings in research of depression and anhedonia, summarized well in this quote from the article:

…there is a specific, abnormal brain activation pattern that is present in people who have anhedonia, which is a key feature of major depression, and absent in those who do not. It is often the case that when patients come to me with major depression, they say, “I shouldn’t be depressed. I have a good life. If my friends or coworkers knew I was depressed, they wouldn’t understand or they would be mad at me. They think I have it made. So, why don’t I feel that way?”

Lantz defines Anhedonia as “the state of being in which a person has lost joy in life or is no longer experiencing pleasure. If you had a boil down major depression to a single symptom, it would be anhedonia.”

Lantz explains the neurochemical changes in the brain of a person with anhedonia.  In short, “their brain is stuck in a negative signaling rut” which makes it impossible to overcome through willpower alone. 

As I said, science is just starting to understand the negative impacts inflicted by the Dopamine Cartel, and those impacts are concerning.

The Decline of Happiness

A study published in 2023 found a correlation between loneliness and the amount of time a person spends on social media. Given that a recent study found that the average American spends 6 1/2 hours online, is it any wonder that happiness levels are declining while depression rates increase?

As the chart above shows, in 2024 the U.S. tumbled 8 spots (to #23) in the latest study from the World Happiness Report.  Further, the report pointed to “Americans under 30 feeling worse about their lives” as the primary cause for the drop.  Interestingly, older Americans are happier than younger ones (the reverse is true for most regions). 

Given that American teens spend an average of 4.8 hours/day on social media, and knowing that research has found “a statistically significant…correlation between depressive symptoms and time spent on Social Media Sites”, it’s a reasonable conclusion that social media (and the Dopamine Cartel) have played a role in the decline of happiness in the U.S.  Whether it’s correlation or causation is tough to say, but the data is what it is.

At the same time, depression rates in the USA are hitting new highs, as shown in the following chart from a recent Gallup poll.

How To Defeat The Dopamine Cartel

In reality, The Dopamine Cartel will be difficult to defeat on a societal level.  On an individual level, however, there is hope.  In The Science Behind Social Media Addiction and How to Break Free, numerous doctors support the existence of the neurological impacts summarized above. The article then provides three specific “Strategies to Break The Habit,” summarized below:

• Self-Binding:  Creating “barriers between ourselves and social media to be mindful of the desire to consume before actually consuming.”  One example is The Brick, another would be to physically put your phone in a different room to force yourself to walk to it before scrolling.
• Time-Binding: Setting time limits on your use of social media, or scheduling certain times of the day where you’ll allow yourself to go online.  Dr. Lembke, author of Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence, recommends considering a month-long detox to restore natural dopamine states. 
• Categorically Binding: Limiting what categories you’ll allow yourself to spend time on, or selecting a few social media accounts to delete. It also includes establishing certain rooms in your home as social media-free zones.

Other recommendations from the article include:

• Implementing a 10-minute rule, where you’ll set a timer for 10 minutes when you feel the urge to check your Twitter account and only check it when the timer goes off.
• Disabling notifications to reduce the constant stream of triggers.
• Use Freedom to create automated schedules when you’re blocked from social media channels of your choice.

In a recent Harvard article, “I Ran 4 Experiments to Break My Social Media Addiction. Here’s What Worked,” the author outlines 4 experiments and their results. Her summary from the experiment is relevant:

Today, I use Freedom to block social websites and news in the mornings nearly every day. I deleted Facebook and email from my phone, I will manually re-install them from 4pm to 5pm and then delete them again (yes, daily). I take regular 24-hour breaks. And I track my usage with RescueTime, which sends me an alert when I’ve hit 45 minutes of total “distracting” time.

Two Personal Examples Of Fighting The Cartel

My wife and I recently took a Disney Cruise with our daughter and granddaughter.  We decided to keep our phones off for the entire trip (yes, we could have purchased wi-fi access). We decided to eliminate the risk of distraction, allowing us to be fully present during this special time in our 5-year-old granddaughter’s life.  We didn’t even take a photo, relying instead on our daughter to be the photographer and share the pics with us after the trip (she didn’t join us in the experiment). It was a refreshing break, and we were both pleased that we took that approach.  Search out a time to intentionally disconnect.  It’s a useful experiment. 

For a second example, I reached out to J$ from Budgets Are Sexy after I saw his Tweet below:

I asked J if he’d be willing to share what he’s learned from his challenge, and he responded with the following:

Well, after 20 days of this challenge so far I’d like to report that I’m still alive  I have no idea what’s going on with the world these days,  but hey – I’m actually LIVING IN IT! And I gotta admit, whipping it out every 13 seconds to satisfy some random question that pops up in my head has not been missed at all… I’m allowed to use my laptop so I just tell myself that I’ll look it up later, but surprise surprise – I never remember to.

The hardest part is really just figuring out what to do with myself on all the downtime when the phone used to perfectly satisfy it. I’m left to my own thoughts more and have to remember how to entertain myself like it was 1997 again. But hey – we did it for thousands of years pre-iPhones so I know it is possible! And I do love that I’m more present now even when I am on the phone texting or calling friends. It feels more connected and you don’t get caught scrolling and half-listening to anyone, lol…

If getting rid of all the apps is too hardcore for you, here are two other things you can try that will also reduce your screen time:

In closing, Ted Gioia wrote a follow-up to the original article to address the numerous requests for more specific guidance. In “13 Observations on Ritual,” he provides additional thoughts on using rituals to break the addiction. Since I’ve spent the majority of this article on his first post, I’ll summarize “Ritual” by stating his words that “…rituals provide an antidote to the more toxic aspects of tech-dominated society.”  If you’re struggling with social media addiction, the article is worth your time.

Conclusion

I’m a retirement blogger, so why did I just dedicate an entire post to The Dopamine Cartel?

Bottom Line:  Retirement can be the best time of your life, but the risk of dopamine addiction is a real threat that we all need to be aware of.  After working for decades to achieve and enjoy your freedom, do you want to risk it all by letting The Dopamine Cartel fuel your addiction to a tool that negatively impacts your ability to enjoy life? 

The facts are still rolling in, but there’s enough evidence now to know the real and present dangers associated with dopamine addiction.

I feel strongly enough about this topic to dedicate a post to the risks and share some ideas on what you can do about it.

I trust, after reading these words, you agree.

Your Turn:  Do you know anyone who you suspect suffers from anhedonia? (I do).  Do you know anyone who could benefit from reading these words (if so, please share this post with them).  Finally, do you use any tricks to reduce the “urge to scroll?”  Let’s chat…