WHY NOTHING FEELS INTERESTING ANYMORE (and how to fix it with neuroscience) — Transcript

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1. 0:00If you feel like nothing excites you the
2. 0:01way that it used to, it is not because
3. 0:03of your personality. There's literally a
4. 0:06neurological shift that has happened in
5. 0:08your brain chemistry that has stolen
6. 0:10your curiosity. And in this video, I'll
7. 0:13explain how it works and how to fix
8. 0:15[music] it. My name is Olga. I study
9. 0:17computation and cognitive science at the
10. 0:19University of Pennsylvania. In this
11. 0:21video, I'll break down how with
12. 0:23neuroscience, you can direct your
13. 0:25curiosity to things that actually
14. 0:27matter. So that books, conversations,
15. 0:30ideas, and people start feeling
16. 0:33genuinely exciting again. Often times
17. 0:35people think that they have lost their
18. 0:37curiosity, but that is not true. Just
19. 0:40think about it. Every time you binge
20. 0:41watch Netflix, you binge watch reality
21. 0:43TV, or you scroll on TikTok or YouTube,
22. 0:46this is your brain's curiosity system
23. 0:48doing exactly what it's designed to do,
24. 0:51which is hunting for the next
25. 0:53interesting piece of information. And
26. 0:55it's the exact [music]
27. 0:56same dopamine system that drives
28. 0:58scientists, artists, and [music] every
29. 1:01genuinely fascinating person that you've
30. 1:03ever met. But the difference is that
31. 1:06their curiosity [music] has been aimed
32. 1:08at things that enrich them. But your
33. 1:10curiosity has been hijacked. It has been
34. 1:12captured by things that drain you.
35. 1:15But that is fixable. First, we have to
36. 1:17understand what is happening in your
37. 1:19brain when you're in a state of
38. 1:20curiosity. [music] And scientists define
39. 1:22it as a sort of mental hunger because
40. 1:25your brain is constantly scanning your
41. 1:27surroundings, the world around you, and
42. 1:29when it detects a gap between what it
43. 1:32knows and what it wants to know,
44. 1:35it becomes hungry to close that gap, to
45. 1:37get that information. For example, when
46. 1:39you read a shocking headline and you
47. 1:41physically cannot scroll past it,
48. 1:43curiosity is what drives you to actually
49. 1:45click on the article and actually read
50. 1:47the article to obtain that information
51. 1:49because your brain essentially treats
52. 1:51information as essential for your
53. 1:53survival. But if your brain is this
54. 1:55hungry for information, why does it only
55. 1:58want to junk? Why does it only want
56. 2:00watching stupid videos? Like it doesn't
57. 2:03want to read a book, it doesn't want to
58. 2:04read
59. 2:05article or learn a new skill or do
60. 2:08something more useful. And the answer
61. 2:10comes down to one chemical,
62. 2:12which is dopamine. And I know you've
63. 2:14heard so much about dopamine, it's such
64. 2:16a buzzword, but please stick with me on
65. 2:18this one because
66. 2:19>> [music]
67. 2:19>> this is where it all connects. This is
68. 2:21where it's all going to make sense.
69. 2:23Dopamine is the neurotransmitter that is
70. 2:24constantly present in your brain. It's a
71. 2:27chemical that makes you do things.
72. 2:29[music] It basically motivates you to
73. 2:31the point where you stand up and you do
74. 2:33something. If you didn't have any
75. 2:34dopamine, you wouldn't want to do
76. 2:36anything at all. And when you have a
77. 2:37healthy level of dopamine in your brain,
78. 2:40the whole world feels like it's full of
79. 2:42things worth pursuing. Questions feel
80. 2:44worth exploring, books feel worth
81. 2:46reading, conversations feel interesting.
82. 2:49And the reason why these things feel so
83. 2:50interesting to you is because you have a
84. 2:53healthy level of dopamine in your system
85. 2:55and you have enough dopamine to actually
86. 2:57generate that motivational pull that is
87. 2:59going to get you interested to pursue
88. 3:01those things. So if you're not feeling
89. 3:03interested in the things that used to
90. 3:05bring you joy, it might be that your
91. 3:07brain is just not generating enough
92. 3:09motivation to make those things worth
93. 3:11pursuing. So how does it happen? Well,
94. 3:14every time your brain detects something
95. 3:16novel like a new notification, a new
96. 3:19video, or a surprising headline, your
97. 3:22dopamine spikes up. So [music] it spikes
98. 3:24up and then it drops. And it gives you
99. 3:26that push of motivation to actually
100. 3:28click on something and find out that
101. 3:30information. And the thing is, your
102. 3:33brain actually compensates dopamine a
103. 3:35little bit by going down and pushing
104. 3:38dopamine slightly below the baseline and
105. 3:40then it goes back to baseline. And then
106. 3:42you see something crazy again on TikTok
107. 3:44and it spikes up again, it goes down, it
108. 3:47goes under the baseline, then goes back
109. 3:49to baseline because we always have to
110. 3:51maintain that balance and come back to
111. 3:52the baseline. It keeps happening again,
112. 3:56again,
113. 3:58again. When you scroll for an hour,
114. 4:00you're hitting your dopamine system
115. 4:02hundreds of times without actually
116. 4:04giving it time to recover. And day after
117. 4:06day, week after week, you keep spiking
118. 4:08and [music] spiking and spiking your
119. 4:09dopamine. And here's the thing, your
120. 4:12brain is actually trying to help you.
121. 4:14And it detects that your dopamine is
122. 4:16chronically elevated and it thinks
123. 4:18something is wrong, I have to reduce it.
124. 4:20So it adapts [music]
125. 4:21by reducing the number of dopamine
126. 4:23receptors. And what it means is that
127. 4:25even if dopamine is present in your
128. 4:27system, less of it is going to get
129. 4:29registered. So you can kind of assume
130. 4:31that you have less dopamine to work
131. 4:33with. And essentially, your dopamine
132. 4:35baseline falls somewhere from here to
133. 4:38somewhere here.
134. 4:41And now,
135. 4:42in order for you to get up to here,
136. 4:44you're going to have to start from the
137. 4:46lower start point.
138. 4:48>> [music]
139. 4:48>> And since your curiosity runs on
140. 4:50dopamine, and now that your brain is
141. 4:52less receptive of dopamine, you have
142. 4:54less interest and less motivation to do
143. 4:57things. The world starts feeling flat,
144. 4:59conversations feel dull, books feel
145. 5:01uninteresting. And now normal activities
146. 5:04don't feel like they're worth pursuing
147. 5:05anymore and they're not worth your
148. 5:07action. And only things like those
149. 5:09algorithmic feeds that are engineered
150. 5:11for maximum stimulation, they still
151. 5:13register as interesting because they can
152. 5:15still spike that dopamine high enough to
153. 5:18bring back that motivational pull to go
154. 5:20and keep scrolling, which is why it's so
155. 5:22hard to stop scrolling even though it
156. 5:25keeps leaving you empty. So it's not
157. 5:27that your curiosity is gone. It's that
158. 5:29your curiosity has been hijacked by
159. 5:31these algorithmic feeds and these
160. 5:32binging behaviors that have lowered your
161. 5:35dopamine baseline and now normal things
162. 5:38like reading a book, they don't register
163. 5:40as interesting anymore even though
164. 5:42they're supposed to. When people have a
165. 5:44dopamine overload, they usually don't
166. 5:46realize it. They just assume that it's a
167. 5:48part of their personality, [music]
168. 5:49that they're lazy, they're unmotivated,
169. 5:51they can't focus, they think that
170. 5:53they're not curious and boring, which I
171. 5:55think is very harmful because it keeps
172. 5:58you in a fixed mindset and makes you
173. 6:00feel like you are unchangeable, which
174. 6:03you of course are. And first, I'm going
175. 6:04to tell you the symptoms of dopamine
176. 6:06overload and how to easily fix [music]
177. 6:08it. And first is that you cannot focus.
178. 6:11You sit down to read or work on
179. 6:12something important and within 90
180. 6:15seconds, your brain is reaching for your
181. 6:16phone. And you're reaching to watch
182. 6:19YouTube or TikTok, maybe you're even
183. 6:20watching this video because you cannot
184. 6:23focus on your task. But that is the
185. 6:25first symptom. And second possible
186. 6:27symptom is you feel like you have
187. 6:28nothing interesting to say. You scroll
188. 6:31through hours of content every week, but
189. 6:34if someone at dinner asks you what
190. 6:36you've been up to lately, you don't know
191. 6:38what to say. Your mind goes blank even
192. 6:41though you've consumed thousands of
193. 6:42pieces of content in the past month,
194. 6:44there's not a single one that is worth
195. 6:46sharing. And the third symptom is that
196. 6:48you feel like you stopped growing. You
197. 6:50feel like you were more interesting 5
198. 6:52years ago because you went deep on
199. 6:54topics, you read books, you had hobbies
200. 6:56you were interested in, and you feel
201. 6:58like something has changed because you
202. 7:00don't feel that excitement anymore. But
203. 7:02the good news is that it's completely
204. 7:04reversible and the fix is extremely
205. 7:07simple. And step number one is you have
206. 7:09to reset your dopamine so it goes back
207. 7:11to your baseline so you can regain your
208. 7:13motivation. Anywhere from 1 day to 7
209. 7:16days is going to help you reset your
210. 7:18dopamine system. So just choose any
211. 7:21amount of days in that range. [music]
212. 7:23And rules of the fast is to eliminate
213. 7:25your highest stimulation behaviors like
214. 7:28binge watching TV or algorithmic feeds
215. 7:31like Twitter and Reddit and TikTok and
216. 7:33Instagram or video games. Basically, you
217. 7:36can still use the internet, but you have
218. 7:39to fully eliminate those things that
219. 7:40actually make the internet so high
220. 7:42stimulation and always spike your
221. 7:44dopamine. Like [music] you can still
222. 7:46read articles, but it would be much
223. 7:48better if you do not go on social media,
224. 7:51for example. And during the fast, you
225. 7:53have to create [music] friction between
226. 7:54you and those behaviors. You have to put
227. 7:57your phone in another room while you
228. 7:58work, turn off notifications, [music]
229. 8:00delete apps if you need to. And over the
230. 8:03years, I kind of developed this habit
231. 8:05where as soon as social media becomes
232. 8:08overstimulating to me, I basically take
233. 8:10my phone, I delete Instagram, TikTok, I
234. 8:13delete Twitter, and I don't go there
235. 8:15anymore. And I last like that for maybe
236. 8:18a few weeks and then I get them back.
237. 8:20But an interesting thing is that I still
238. 8:22use Instagram on my computer in the
239. 8:25browser because I often communicate with
240. 8:27my friends, I text with my friends on
241. 8:29Instagram and I don't want to miss any
242. 8:30of the messages.
243. 8:32But because it's so inconvenient to use
244. 8:36Instagram and watch reels on a computer,
245. 8:39you just don't really want to do it. So
246. 8:41I created this exception for myself
247. 8:42where I am allowed to read messages and
248. 8:45reply to my friends, but I'm not allowed
249. 8:47to actually watch the content. And step
250. 8:49number two is move your body. If there's
251. 8:52one thing that neuroscience is anonymous
252. 8:55on, it's that exercise is the most
253. 8:58powerful tool for restoring your
254. 8:59dopamine system. It increases dopamine
255. 9:01production, it increases receptor
256. 9:03sensitivity. And people who exercise
257. 9:06regularly, they have more natural
258. 9:08motivation, they have more curiosity,
259. 9:11and it happens because, loosely
260. 9:13speaking, they have more dopamine to
261. 9:15work with. So they feel more motivated.
262. 9:18And even 30 minutes of walking a day,
263. 9:20it's a great start. And step number
264. 9:22three is tonight, instead of opening
265. 9:25your feed, pick one thing that caught
266. 9:27your attention recently and spend 20
267. 9:30minutes really exploring it. Maybe
268. 9:32you're curious to learn more about
269. 9:34psychology, so go read a full article
270. 9:36about some topic in psychology. Go watch
271. 9:39a long form video. Go ask AI questions
272. 9:42about that topic and keep asking it
273. 9:44questions. Go deep on it to see how it
274. 9:47actually feels to be interested in
275. 9:49something again. So you do not actually
276. 9:51lack curiosity. You lack the dopamine to
277. 9:54act on it.
278. 9:56So, now do a dopamine reset, move your
279. 9:59body, and go on a 20-minute rabbit hole
280. 10:02about some topic [music] that you find
281. 10:03interesting. And being interested in
282. 10:06things, being genuinely deeply
283. 10:08interested in the world around you, it's
284. 10:10the most attractive, the most creative,
285. 10:12and the most life-changing thing you can
286. 10:14be. Because being [music] interested is
287. 10:18being interesting.
288. 10:20Thank you for watching and subscribe if
289. 10:21this helped. I am currently building up
290. 10:23my YouTube channel. So, any sort of
291. 10:26suggestions for next video topics, any
292. 10:28sort of comments or likes would be
293. 10:30greatly appreciated. Thank you.