The State of Culture, 2024 is a brilliant article by The Honest Broker, Ted Gioia. He is examining the entertainment culture or as he says the lack of it in the current society.
Traditional media has been diminishing for some time as the generation is shifting toward quick and addictive digital distractions. Tech companies have found a hack to keep users on their platforms by providing constant dopamine hits and building algorithms that encourage addictive behaviors in users.
This dopamine culture is making content shallow and in general creating an inability to feel pleasure or happiness among its users also called 'anhedonia'.
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.
Tech companies are not going to stop at anything. However, building awareness about predatory practices being used by them and doing regular digital detox will be a step forward.
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