Rise of the Dopamine Culture

The solar eclipse here in Vermont was spectacular! Who would have thought the Green Mountains would host perfect weather, 60 and sunny, in early April? Go figure.

A few weeks ago, I read an interesting article written by the folks at the BIG Questions Institute titled “Dopamine Culture.” In the article, BQI writes,

“In our newsletter from a month ago, we shared a reading link to Ted Gioia’s [culture critic and creator of The Honest Broker] post “The State of Culture, 2024.” Gioia identifies ‘The Rise of Dopamine Culture’ – which caught our attention.”

“He discusses how new technologies are increasingly rewiring our brains to be in constant search of pleasure at any moment, regardless of how long-lasting it is. That dopamine hit that we get when someone likes our latest LinkedIn or Facebook post, or when we watch that 30-second TikTok video that stirs emotion in us. Tech companies, Gioia argues, are hell-bent on keeping us captive by addicting us to a need for instant gratification.”

“This isn’t a new argument, but what is new is the way he frames the evolution that most of us born before the 1990s have witnesses in a crazy short period of time.”

“Seeing these dramatic progressions across the cultural terrain hit us. Yes, we are getting old, but ‘Slow Traditional Culture’ doesn’t seem that long ago – does it? A scan of the far right column makes it uncomfortably clear just how much we’ve succumbed to the programming that the tech companies have been pushing the past couple of decades, and how much everyday life has changed.”

“The different categories impacted quickly led us to consider the implications for the ways we think about education and schooling.”

“Which of these three cultures are we currently oriented toward? Do we fight against these shifts or do we instead focus on how to best prepare our students (and ourselves) to put new technologies to good use (and what is ‘good use’)? What are the more meta-questions that a ‘Dopamine Culture’ poses to the current institution and narratives of education? And how do we develop and maintain an element of  ‘long-term’ thinking about the impacts of our actions on the planet at a time when ‘micro-term’ responses seem to be taking over?”

“It’s a lot, but ignoring these questions and others like them is no longer an option.”

“If the goal is to balance or mitigate the many negative impacts of all of this (again, read his post if you haven’t), you might already be banning or limiting smart phone use at school, and we can think of another important move to try right away: getting ourselves and our students outside in nature for some quality, non-tech time each day. All the evidence is showing that even short bouts of quiet time outside have powerful positive impacts on general health and builds our connection to all living things.”

“A challenge we’ve presented to some of the educators we’re working with is to explore what adding an ‘Education’ row to Gioia’s graphic could result in. What answers might you provide in those spaces? Why does it matter? What big questions arise for you?

Well, let me take a shot at answering BQI’s three questions:

When it comes to education, it seems that “the factory model of schooling” might be the slow traditional culture answer, with “charter schools” being the fast modern culture example. “Personalized learning” might be the dopamine culture answer.

Why does any of this matter? Because this is the way the human race might be tracking our progress, or lack thereof. Even though there are lots of folks my age that balk at the idea “TikToks” equate with the significance of a best-selling album, there is an army of young people out there that laugh at the way we used to take a needle to vinyl in order to find a song we wanted to hear. Nostalgia might be a roadblock to the rise of “the dopamine culture,” but it’s yet to be seen whether all of these “arrows to the right” are actually progress or not.

What big questions arise for you? At least when it comes to education, and more importantly “learning,” the question for me is this:

How can we create a new system of learning that makes all kids smarter and stronger when it comes to reading, writing, problem-solving, and character development?

Til tomorrow. SVB