steve jobs built the world’s most efficient crack pipe.

During the beginning of the pandemic, I saw an advertisement for a casino.  It said they were now “safely” opened.  The picture had people at the slot machines wearing masks.

No.  Sorry.

You don’t go to the casino to be safe.

You go because you’re an addict.

Now, this article is going to be a little different than your normal “get healthy for the new year” article.  Because I want to talk about something different.  I want to talk about a modern day mental health crisis.

But before I start my rant, there’s something I want you to understand.  And that’s Dopamine.

Dopamine is a chemical that is produced in the brain to stimulate neurons.  It is part of your reward pathway.  When you do something, and dopamine is produced, it makes you want to do that thing again.

Common things that stimulate Dopamine: Food and Sex.

Sounds good right?  Well, here are some others…

Gambling, Heroin, Crack, Netflix, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok.

Social media manipulates your brain’s reward pathways in the same way the casino and your local drug dealer does.

In essence…

Steve Jobs built the world’s most efficient crack pipe.

Now it is true that this crack pipe can be used for other things as well.  It’s a multipurpose tool, kind of like a Swiss army knife.

Here’s something else you need to know about neurochemistry:  Your brain doesn’t care if the information you’re getting is good or bad.  Fake or true.  As long as it keeps the dopamine circulating, it’s happy.

Ever wonder why some people are always mad on social media and never have anything nice to say?  Well, that’s because “anger” is a dopamine switch.  And when others agree with them, it reinforces their beliefs and produces more…you guessed it…dopamine!  And thus the cycle of hate and fake news continue, over and over again.

So, now that we understand some of the problem, what can we do about it?

We have to treat this as any other addiction.

Most people don’t think they’re addicted.  This is called denial.  You’re going to say things like “this is just my entertainment” or “I’m not robbing any banks to feed the habit”.

And in a way, you’re right.  Because this type of addiction shows itself in a different way.  The need to fill the void.

(I originally wrote that sentence “the need to feel the void”.  Was that a Freudian slip or what?)

It’s that itch that you’re missing out.  That need to fill every spare second of time with something.  It’s the absence of any free space for your mind to think it’s own thoughts or your heart to feel its own emotions.

Technology was supposed to give us more time.  But we just fill that time with more technology.

Now, not everyone has been pulled in and under yet.  Some are still swimming just fine, dabbling here and there with the dark arts, still safe from its magic for now.

But hear me out, it’s a dangerous game we’re playing.

This addiction wants to control us in new ways.  It whispers to us what we should wear, who we should vote for, what to think, how to feel, who to love, and who to hate.  It collects all our memories, bank accounts, and secrets.

We have not chosen to create artificial intelligence.  Instead, we’ve created an artificial god.  Turned over our credit card numbers and sacrificed our virginity.

This is the true plague of the world:  A soulless death.

But what do we do?  How can we kill a god?

Call me a Luddite if you like…

(But truth be known, here I am.  My little phone in my pocket and an itch inside my brain)

You break addiction by stopping the behavior.  You stop the behavior through intervention and creation of different behaviors.

You break addiction through prayer and fasting.

In other words, turn off the noise!

We need some good old fashioned THOREAU style detachment from modernity.

What would your life look like if there were no opinions being given to you?  If no one was there telling you what to think?

Maybe I’m just an eccentric middle age dude from Nowhere, Mississippi.  What do I know?

So here’s the plan…

Throw away your phone.

Read Walden.

Go out into the woods.

And simplify your life.

You can thank me later,

Via handwritten letter.

(remember those?)

p.s.

I’ll probably post this later on Facebook.  The hypocrisy is not lost on me.

p.p.s.

Getting closer to finishing my second book.  Maybe you’ll check it out when the time comes.  You may or may not want to buy it and throw it in the trash.

But if you haven’t read the first one, click here.