Derek Thompson

That's a strange juxtaposition. And if you go back to Kleinenberg's definition of loneliness being the urge the drive to fix your alone state by being around other people. What do we do about the fact that it seems like so many young people who spend more time alone than any previous generation of recorded history celebrate and dance when they get more alone time and me time and isolation.

That's a strange juxtaposition. And if you go back to Kleinenberg's definition of loneliness being the urge the drive to fix your alone state by being around other people. What do we do about the fact that it seems like so many young people who spend more time alone than any previous generation of recorded history celebrate and dance when they get more alone time and me time and isolation.

That's a strange juxtaposition. And if you go back to Kleinenberg's definition of loneliness being the urge the drive to fix your alone state by being around other people. What do we do about the fact that it seems like so many young people who spend more time alone than any previous generation of recorded history celebrate and dance when they get more alone time and me time and isolation.

Something strange is happening here, and it does a disservice to the strangeness to call it mere aloneness.

Something strange is happening here, and it does a disservice to the strangeness to call it mere aloneness.

Something strange is happening here, and it does a disservice to the strangeness to call it mere aloneness.

When I was finishing edits for this essay, I was reading a book, Dopamine Nation, about the functioning of our dopamine systems. And I learned that there's two different ways of measuring dopamine. There's phasic dopamine, which is sort of the dopamine hits that we receive from certain experiences. And there's our tonic dopamine, which is the baseline level of dopamine that we have.

When I was finishing edits for this essay, I was reading a book, Dopamine Nation, about the functioning of our dopamine systems. And I learned that there's two different ways of measuring dopamine. There's phasic dopamine, which is sort of the dopamine hits that we receive from certain experiences. And there's our tonic dopamine, which is the baseline level of dopamine that we have.

When I was finishing edits for this essay, I was reading a book, Dopamine Nation, about the functioning of our dopamine systems. And I learned that there's two different ways of measuring dopamine. There's phasic dopamine, which is sort of the dopamine hits that we receive from certain experiences. And there's our tonic dopamine, which is the baseline level of dopamine that we have.

And without making this overcomplicated, because I might not fully understand it ourselves, sometimes when we have a really high high dopamine experience, there's less dopamine, or to be colloquial, less drive that we have left over. And what I think is happening with smartphone use is something like this.

And without making this overcomplicated, because I might not fully understand it ourselves, sometimes when we have a really high high dopamine experience, there's less dopamine, or to be colloquial, less drive that we have left over. And what I think is happening with smartphone use is something like this.

And without making this overcomplicated, because I might not fully understand it ourselves, sometimes when we have a really high high dopamine experience, there's less dopamine, or to be colloquial, less drive that we have left over. And what I think is happening with smartphone use is something like this.

We pull out our phones and we're on TikTok or Instagram or we're on Twitter and we're flipping, flipping, flipping with our thumbs. And while externally it looks like nothing is happening, internally the dopamine is flowing and we are just thinking, oh my God, we're feeling outrage, we're feeling excitement, we're feeling humor, we're feeling all sorts of things. We put our phone away.

We pull out our phones and we're on TikTok or Instagram or we're on Twitter and we're flipping, flipping, flipping with our thumbs. And while externally it looks like nothing is happening, internally the dopamine is flowing and we are just thinking, oh my God, we're feeling outrage, we're feeling excitement, we're feeling humor, we're feeling all sorts of things. We put our phone away.

We pull out our phones and we're on TikTok or Instagram or we're on Twitter and we're flipping, flipping, flipping with our thumbs. And while externally it looks like nothing is happening, internally the dopamine is flowing and we are just thinking, oh my God, we're feeling outrage, we're feeling excitement, we're feeling humor, we're feeling all sorts of things. We put our phone away.

And our dopamine levels fall. And we feel kind of exhausted by that which was supposed to be our leisure time. And a friend then asks us to go out. They say, hey, do you want to come meet me for drinks? And what we think isn't, I've just been reading a book. I've been enjoying perfect quiet. I really want to be around people. I'm healthily lonely. Instead, we think, I'm exhausted.

And our dopamine levels fall. And we feel kind of exhausted by that which was supposed to be our leisure time. And a friend then asks us to go out. They say, hey, do you want to come meet me for drinks? And what we think isn't, I've just been reading a book. I've been enjoying perfect quiet. I really want to be around people. I'm healthily lonely. Instead, we think, I'm exhausted.

And our dopamine levels fall. And we feel kind of exhausted by that which was supposed to be our leisure time. And a friend then asks us to go out. They say, hey, do you want to come meet me for drinks? And what we think isn't, I've just been reading a book. I've been enjoying perfect quiet. I really want to be around people. I'm healthily lonely. Instead, we think, I'm exhausted.

And thinking about leaving this house, and getting my hair done, and doing my makeup, or putting on the right clothes, and maybe using the subway, and maybe the subway's broken, or getting into a car, but I don't want to call the Uber, we start imagining all the misadventures of getting out of the house. And we think, that seems like too much energy to expend. And I'm in a low energy state.

And thinking about leaving this house, and getting my hair done, and doing my makeup, or putting on the right clothes, and maybe using the subway, and maybe the subway's broken, or getting into a car, but I don't want to call the Uber, we start imagining all the misadventures of getting out of the house. And we think, that seems like too much energy to expend. And I'm in a low energy state.