The Dopamine Dilemma: When Likes Become an Addiction
By David Preece
I discovered Nightcafe almost 700 days ago (that Daily Create Streak reward). Initially just to try generate some issues to create a slideshow for a YouTube upload. Almost immediately I found myself enjoying that as an activity in and of itself. I began to create daily and discovered features of the platform. Quite specifically how the credit system worked, and the means to get more. That led to active publishing, commenting, liking and following, working towards the first badges to obtain the credits needed to support my creative habit (if that sounds somewhat descriptive of drug addiction, I think it fits). I was new to this. I'd never been into Facebook, Twitter etc. I did have one prior gamefiction experience at work. Let me just say, I ultimately found a lot of problems with what was done, leader behaviours, impact on people- all in pursuit of a vanity metric. The mixed emotions- the joy of receiving 10 likes... 25, 50, OMG the first 100, but also the disappointment of publishing and 24- 48 hours later having received no more than 3-6 likes. I made friends, and was told of publishing strategies. Many discussions as to when to publish, how frequently to publish, how many to publish. Later the idea to tag people so they'd be notifiied, and to share in the most active public rooms. Frequently, people would state that they didn't publish for likes, didn't care, created for themself. Then why publish? An interesting question. And if publishing, then what are the underlying motivations and needs? And somewhat in contradiction, they'd get frustrated and vent. It is human nature. I have learnt more over time about the 'happy hormones': dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, and endorphins. In this context, we are not immune to the effects of dopamine and oxytocin. An image receiving likes and positive comments triggers shots of these hormones. This can be combined with Maslow's work, our latent need to be accepted, to feel self-esteem. I think it is a rare person who is entirely independent of external influence. It took me a while to develop behaviours where I can enjoy the likes and comments (I can't lie, I do), without being hooked. Regardless of how my images are received (well from a small number of viewers, seldom more than 20 likes, no more 100s, never ever 1000s of likes), I do feel accepted, recognised, and appreciated for who I am, without judgement in a number of smaller groups. Once again I have vowed to publish without thought of the likes (and am sticking to it), yet I still share in those public rooms, hoping for those viewer responses. Now here in BP, I find myself behaving to receive the likes, driven by the Daily Reward of precious credits. Is there anything wrong with the behaviour, the making, commenting and liking of Posts? I don't think so, if it is done sincerely. I am driven to want to help and support people (in my work I am a coach, more satisfied through enabling others than doing the work) so I take satisfaction from the engagement with others here in BP. So to the new Blogs. Credits on offer for clapping posts. I enjoyed reading the posts this morning, making small comments, and (of course) claiming the reward. I come to BP and NC daily, with my eyes open, to keep a healthy balance and perspective, free from that addiction.