Tech has rewired our brains... here's how we can fight back

Many of us are suffering the effects of dopamine-overdose from social media scrolling and smartphones. A new podcast and book explains why boredom is essential to our happiness. BY KAREN ROCKETT

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Screen saturation is draining our feelgood chemical, dopamine, and rewiring our brains, leaving us overstimulated and disconnected from the real world. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter and hormone that plays a crucial role in the brain's reward and pleasure system. It's involved in regulating mood, motivation, movement and learning, and is released when you experience pleasure or satisfaction. It also impacts parts of our physical body including blood vessels and heart function.

Screens and social media give us instant dopamine hits from scrolling our favourite comedy clips to checking how many likes our social media posts get. But you can have too much of a good thing?

Now neuroscientist TJ Power, founder of The DOSE Lab, dedicated to advancing research on how modern lifestyles impact brain chemistry and wellbeing, is sounding the alarm on the dopamine crisis. Power, bestselling author of The DOSE Effect, who is known for his work on mental health in the digital age, discusses the dopamine crisis with podcast host James Smith on his chart-topping podcast The Problem With...

Talking in the episode, Dopamine, Power says our 300,000-year-old brains are being hijacked by a world of technology that is only a few decades old.

"If you are struggling to concentrate, find everyday tasks annoying and feel life is less enjoyable, dull and mundane, then you have dopamine burnout," he explains.

TJ, who studied for his Masters in neuroscience at Exeter University and conducts studies into dopamine effects at Southampton University, says most people could benefit from a digital detox to reduce dopamine to a normal, balanced level.

"Our ancestors experienced only a few dopamine spikes per day, modern life delivers hundreds, leaving the brain overstimulated and drained of motivation," he says.