Dopamine, a chemical messenger in the brain, used to be neuroscience jargon — something you’d read about in a biology textbook. But today, dopamine has become a cultural catch-all, shorthand for focus, yearning, and joy.

Scroll through TikTok or sit next to a Silicon Valley software engineer at a dinner party, and you’ll be bombarded with dopamine-related life hacks. Struggling to stay off your phone? Maybe you’re due for a dopamine detox. Concerned that you’re not enjoying life like you used to? Try dopamine fasting or, for a quick pick-me-up, get dopamine dressed.

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- Discovering dopamine

- How does dopamine work?

"They’re like the influencers of your brain."

- Dopamine detoxing, hacking, and fasting: is any of it real?

- Why does the idea of a “pleasure chemical” resonate with us?

... read more at vox.com