Feeling Joy
When is fun not fun any more?
In case you missed Dr. Archibald Hart’s presentation of his latest book, “Thrilled to Death“, here’s a summary of what he said in a recent (6/25/08) Focus on the Family broadcast: Over-stimulation “hijacks the pleasure center of the brain,” first flooding it with cortisol- and adrenalin-stimulated joy, then blocking the ability to feel joy.
When a person is multitasking, for example, his or her body is constantly bombarded with cortisol and adrenalin, leading at first to a sense of pleasure and accomplishment. Then, as the experience is prolonged, there is a reduced capacity to experience pleasure.
Consider the physical experience like holding a small glass of water at arm’s length. For a while one can enjoy the experience of success, but then the weariness sets in.
This is precisely what happens when people are addicted to a “recreational” drug. First the high, then it takes more and more of the substance to feel good. The problem here is that life is a do-it-to-yourself project. We can pursue what is bad for us.
Brain Damage
As the brain is first over-stimulated, then dulled, there is reversible brain damage to that pleasure center of the brain. The constant over-stimulation leads to extreme thrill-seeking in an effort to feel pleasure, since the victim suffers from anhedonia. Anhedonia leads not only to a negative sort of boredom, but to apathy and depression.
This cycle is especially damaging for children.
Too much media stimulation, for example, has been shown to reduce performance on standardized tests, according to a December 24, 2007 article by Caleb Crain in The New Yorker, page 138.
Children are also at high risk since weary, over-stimulated parents park them in front of movies instead to doing Legos, for example, to build the ability to use their own imagination, transfer learning, achieve real self worth, and socialize in the process. Social workers of my acquaintance tell me that today’s youth are poorly socialized.
Not all boredom is the same
Boredom due to under-stimulations leads to the development and use of imagination or creativity. As my mother used to say, “If you can’t find something to be happy doing, I’ll put you to work.” That tactic worked on me. I read books and raised my I.Q. in the process.
What I’ve been saying for years is being explained in a different, well researched way by Dr. Hart. His book is a must read for our own good.
Our American ingenuity (creative ability to solve problems) is endangered by our focus on over-stimulation, since we then pursue pleasure to our detriment. We cause our own depression, boredom and apathy, and the joy of life is gone. We are becoming more and more addicted to the pursuit but less and less satisfied and certainly less happy with the result of our “pleasant” activities. We are being destroyed by our own ignorant desires. Odd, the Bible said that (Phil. 3:19).
Besides being less happy, we are going to be less able to compete on the global marketplace.
Our competitive edge is based in our ability to create. Other countries copy. We invent.
