Comment on Guys, please send your thoughts and prayers to Senor Cuckberg

• iamtanmay@wolfballs.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

  Thing is, we have tons of research on addiction, so we are somewhat aware on that side. SM is probably between caffeine and nicotine in terms of addictivity.

  However, how about the effects on long term memory and thinking pathways, especiallly in kids ? As we offload all our memory to google on our phones, what happens to our brains. Are we suddenly cyborgs with hugely expanded 'virtual' memories from the internet ?

  What happens to our attention spans ? How about empathy ? We treat virtual strangers on forums like Twitter and Wolfballs, as if they are real people, not digital avatars, right ?

  So many unknowns.....

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  • goldenballs@wolfballs.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

    Sugar is by far the most addictive substance. Potently triggering the dopaminergic circuit. Smartphone "waterfall" news feeds and commenting platforms do the same kind of triggering, but without the chenical binding. So yeah turning off helps, and there will be some withdrawal, but its psychological and tactile, rather than chemical like sugar or nicotine.

    Caffeine and Nicotine are alkaloids like Cocaine, but are nowhere near sugar. Nicotine is different from Caffeine because it binds to the nicotinic receptors in the DLPFC and inhibits acetylcholine neurotransmitters. Caffeine and Cocaine don't bind semi-permanently like Nicotine or opioids.

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    • iamtanmay@wolfballs.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

      Wow. I learnt a lot. Thank you. Didn't know there was such a huge addictive potential for sugar. I myself love it, but didn't mind switching to Stevia.

      Thanks for the detailed explanation of the binding mech.

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      • goldenballs@wolfballs.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

        All sweet things contain some form of sugar, even stevia. Fructose in fruit, maltose in bread. Honey at least has useful bacteria and nutrients in it.

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