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Description
oil on canvas, 50x70cm

The hedonic treadmill, also known as hedonic adaptation, is the observed tendency of humans to quickly return to a relatively stable level of happiness despite major positive or negative events or life changes. According to this theory, as a person makes more money, expectations and desires rise in tandem, which results in no permanent gain in happiness.

Hedonic adaptation is a process or mechanism that reduces the affective impact of emotional events. Generally, hedonic adaptation involves a happiness "set point", whereby humans generally maintain a constant level of happiness throughout their lives, despite events that occur in their environment. The process of hedonic adaptation is often conceptualized as a treadmill, since no matter how hard one tries to gain an increase in happiness, one will remain in the same place.

Repeating a satisfying stimulus soon starts giving a blunt reaction. Is specially obvious with drug addicts, usually the first experience is the most memorable, then every dose is a failed attempt to recreate that "first love". Another problem is that the brain is trying to compensate, the higher you go, the lower you sink, but it affects the dopamine system for long periods, making the life experience fade and irrelevant, and lacking the motivation to do the most basic tasks.
Ain't very many things that give us real satisfaction and meaning in life, on the other hand, there are an infinite ways to make someone's life miserable.

The reptilian brain, the oldest of the three, controls the body's vital functions such as heart rate, breathing, body temperature and balance. The reptilian brain is reliable but tends to be somewhat rigid and compulsive.

The limbic brain emerged in the first mammals. It can record memories of behaviors that produced agreeable and disagreeable experiences, so it is responsible for what are called emotions in human beings. The limbic brain is the seat of the value judgments that we make, often unconsciously, that exert such a strong influence on our behavior.

Scrolling down the phone is like an infinite run over the hedonic treadmill searching for dopamine rewards. The problem is that as you get used to the stimulus, you need exponentially more to have just a quanta of more satisfaction. Social media tends to trigger your limbic system, which deals with emotional responses — good or bad. Social media may pack more of an emotional punch when you're not seeing people in real life. Stress is known to affect the limbic system in the long term. If you're having more fights with people on Twitter or getting more upset about things you see online, this may be why.

Description
oil on canvas, 50x70cm

The hedonic treadmill, also known as hedonic adaptation, is the observed tendency of humans to quickly return to a relatively stable level of happiness despite major positive or negative events or life changes. According to this theory, as a person makes more money, expectations and desires rise in tandem, which results in no permanent gain in happiness.

Hedonic adaptation is a process or mechanism that reduces the affective impact of emotional events. Generally, hedonic adaptation involves a happiness "set point", whereby humans generally maintain a constant level of happiness throughout their lives, despite events that occur in their environment. The process of hedonic adaptation is often conceptualized as a treadmill, since no matter how hard one tries to gain an increase in happiness, one will remain in the same place.

Repeating a satisfying stimulus soon starts giving a blunt reaction. Is specially obvious with drug addicts, usually the first experience is the most memorable, then every dose is a failed attempt to recreate that "first love". Another problem is that the brain is trying to compensate, the higher you go, the lower you sink, but it affects the dopamine system for long periods, making the life experience fade and irrelevant, and lacking the motivation to do the most basic tasks.
Ain't very many things that give us real satisfaction and meaning in life, on the other hand, there are an infinite ways to make someone's life miserable.

The reptilian brain, the oldest of the three, controls the body's vital functions such as heart rate, breathing, body temperature and balance. The reptilian brain is reliable but tends to be somewhat rigid and compulsive.

The limbic brain emerged in the first mammals. It can record memories of behaviors that produced agreeable and disagreeable experiences, so it is responsible for what are called emotions in human beings. The limbic brain is the seat of the value judgments that we make, often unconsciously, that exert such a strong influence on our behavior.

Scrolling down the phone is like an infinite run over the hedonic treadmill searching for dopamine rewards. The problem is that as you get used to the stimulus, you need exponentially more to have just a quanta of more satisfaction. Social media tends to trigger your limbic system, which deals with emotional responses — good or bad. Social media may pack more of an emotional punch when you're not seeing people in real life. Stress is known to affect the limbic system in the long term. If you're having more fights with people on Twitter or getting more upset about things you see online, this may be why.