That’s absolutely on point. It seems to me like we’re unable to connect these dots so easily though, and we let a lot of these “cookies” infiltrate our lives readily. We understand eating too many sweets is bad for us, bad for kids, but we seem to struggle to identify why that is and why so many other things in life stimulate the same neural paths and responses.
I try to tell my kids all the time (paraphrasing myself): the best cookies are the ones you earn. The worst ones are the ones you acquire easily.
Riding up a mountain so you can ride down it, ripping around the trails and getting air, coming out the bottom still lightheaded with excitement is incredible. The way up can be hell, sometimes you wonder what you were thinking, but at the end of it all you want more! That’s what the brain needs.
Video games and infiniscrolling on the other hand… Some of the same reward pathways are hit, but there’s no substance there. Just a bag of free cookies that makes you ill.
Edit: I love video games, I’m definitely not saying they’re ruining children or anything. But I mean, video games after a day of getting stuff done and having nothing left on your plate is going to feel like a great reward. Waking up and playing until you feel like a human slug, anxiety ridden about all the stuff you didn’t accomplish… That’s a problem. Not because video games specifically, either.
I try to tell my kids all the time (paraphrasing myself): the best cookies are the ones you earn. The worst ones are the ones you acquire easily.
Riding up a mountain so you can ride down it, ripping around the trails and getting air, coming out the bottom still lightheaded with excitement is incredible. The way up can be hell, sometimes you wonder what you were thinking, but at the end of it all you want more! That’s what the brain needs.
Video games and infiniscrolling on the other hand… Some of the same reward pathways are hit, but there’s no substance there. Just a bag of free cookies that makes you ill.
Edit: I love video games, I’m definitely not saying they’re ruining children or anything. But I mean, video games after a day of getting stuff done and having nothing left on your plate is going to feel like a great reward. Waking up and playing until you feel like a human slug, anxiety ridden about all the stuff you didn’t accomplish… That’s a problem. Not because video games specifically, either.