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

0:00If you feel like nothing excites you the

0:01way that it used to, it is not because

0:03of your personality. There's literally a

0:06neurological shift that has happened in

0:08your brain chemistry that has stolen

0:10your curiosity. And in this video, I'll

0:13explain how it works and how to fix

0:15[music] it. My name is Olga. I study

0:17computation and cognitive science at the

0:19University of Pennsylvania. In this

0:21video, I'll break down how with

0:23neuroscience, you can direct your

0:25curiosity to things that actually

0:27matter. So that books, conversations,

0:30ideas, and people start feeling

0:33genuinely exciting again. Often times

0:35people think that they have lost their

0:37curiosity, but that is not true. Just

0:40think about it. Every time you binge

0:41watch Netflix, you binge watch reality

0:43TV, or you scroll on TikTok or YouTube,

0:46this is your brain's curiosity system

0:48doing exactly what it's designed to do,

0:51which is hunting for the next

0:53interesting piece of information. And

0:55it's the exact [music]

0:56same dopamine system that drives

0:58scientists, artists, and [music] every

1:01genuinely fascinating person that you've

1:03ever met. But the difference is that

1:06their curiosity [music] has been aimed

1:08at things that enrich them. But your

1:10curiosity has been hijacked. It has been

1:12captured by things that drain you.

1:15But that is fixable. First, we have to

1:17understand what is happening in your

1:19brain when you're in a state of

1:20curiosity. [music] And scientists define

1:22it as a sort of mental hunger because

1:25your brain is constantly scanning your

1:27surroundings, the world around you, and

1:29when it detects a gap between what it

1:32knows and what it wants to know,

1:35it becomes hungry to close that gap, to

1:37get that information. For example, when

1:39you read a shocking headline and you

1:41physically cannot scroll past it,

1:43curiosity is what drives you to actually

1:45click on the article and actually read

1:47the article to obtain that information

1:49because your brain essentially treats

1:51information as essential for your

1:53survival. But if your brain is this

1:55hungry for information, why does it only

1:58want to junk? Why does it only want

2:00watching stupid videos? Like it doesn't

2:03want to read a book, it doesn't want to

2:04read

2:05article or learn a new skill or do

2:08something more useful. And the answer

2:10comes down to one chemical,

2:12which is dopamine. And I know you've

2:14heard so much about dopamine, it's such

2:16a buzzword, but please stick with me on

2:18this one because

2:19>> [music]

2:19>> this is where it all connects. This is

2:21where it's all going to make sense.

2:23Dopamine is the neurotransmitter that is

2:24constantly present in your brain. It's a

2:27chemical that makes you do things.

2:29[music] It basically motivates you to

2:31the point where you stand up and you do

2:33something. If you didn't have any

2:34dopamine, you wouldn't want to do

2:36anything at all. And when you have a

2:37healthy level of dopamine in your brain,

2:40the whole world feels like it's full of

2:42things worth pursuing. Questions feel

2:44worth exploring, books feel worth

2:46reading, conversations feel interesting.

2:49And the reason why these things feel so

2:50interesting to you is because you have a

2:53healthy level of dopamine in your system

2:55and you have enough dopamine to actually

2:57generate that motivational pull that is

2:59going to get you interested to pursue

3:01those things. So if you're not feeling

3:03interested in the things that used to

3:05bring you joy, it might be that your

3:07brain is just not generating enough

3:09motivation to make those things worth

3:11pursuing. So how does it happen? Well,

3:14every time your brain detects something

3:16novel like a new notification, a new

3:19video, or a surprising headline, your

3:22dopamine spikes up. So [music] it spikes

3:24up and then it drops. And it gives you

3:26that push of motivation to actually

3:28click on something and find out that

3:30information. And the thing is, your

3:33brain actually compensates dopamine a

3:35little bit by going down and pushing

3:38dopamine slightly below the baseline and

3:40then it goes back to baseline. And then

3:42you see something crazy again on TikTok

3:44and it spikes up again, it goes down, it

3:47goes under the baseline, then goes back

3:49to baseline because we always have to

3:51maintain that balance and come back to

3:52the baseline. It keeps happening again,

3:56again,

3:58again. When you scroll for an hour,

4:00you're hitting your dopamine system

4:02hundreds of times without actually

4:04giving it time to recover. And day after

4:06day, week after week, you keep spiking

4:08and [music] spiking and spiking your

4:09dopamine. And here's the thing, your

4:12brain is actually trying to help you.

4:14And it detects that your dopamine is

4:16chronically elevated and it thinks

4:18something is wrong, I have to reduce it.

4:20So it adapts [music]

4:21by reducing the number of dopamine

4:23receptors. And what it means is that

4:25even if dopamine is present in your

4:27system, less of it is going to get

4:29registered. So you can kind of assume

4:31that you have less dopamine to work

4:33with. And essentially, your dopamine

4:35baseline falls somewhere from here to

4:38somewhere here.

4:41And now,

4:42in order for you to get up to here,

4:44you're going to have to start from the

4:46lower start point.

4:48>> [music]

4:48>> And since your curiosity runs on

4:50dopamine, and now that your brain is

4:52less receptive of dopamine, you have

4:54less interest and less motivation to do

4:57things. The world starts feeling flat,

4:59conversations feel dull, books feel

5:01uninteresting. And now normal activities

5:04don't feel like they're worth pursuing

5:05anymore and they're not worth your

5:07action. And only things like those

5:09algorithmic feeds that are engineered

5:11for maximum stimulation, they still

5:13register as interesting because they can

5:15still spike that dopamine high enough to

5:18bring back that motivational pull to go

5:20and keep scrolling, which is why it's so

5:22hard to stop scrolling even though it

5:25keeps leaving you empty. So it's not

5:27that your curiosity is gone. It's that

5:29your curiosity has been hijacked by

5:31these algorithmic feeds and these

5:32binging behaviors that have lowered your

5:35dopamine baseline and now normal things

5:38like reading a book, they don't register

5:40as interesting anymore even though

5:42they're supposed to. When people have a

5:44dopamine overload, they usually don't

5:46realize it. They just assume that it's a

5:48part of their personality, [music]

5:49that they're lazy, they're unmotivated,

5:51they can't focus, they think that

5:53they're not curious and boring, which I

5:55think is very harmful because it keeps

5:58you in a fixed mindset and makes you

6:00feel like you are unchangeable, which

6:03you of course are. And first, I'm going

6:04to tell you the symptoms of dopamine

6:06overload and how to easily fix [music]

6:08it. And first is that you cannot focus.

6:11You sit down to read or work on

6:12something important and within 90

6:15seconds, your brain is reaching for your

6:16phone. And you're reaching to watch

6:19YouTube or TikTok, maybe you're even

6:20watching this video because you cannot

6:23focus on your task. But that is the

6:25first symptom. And second possible

6:27symptom is you feel like you have

6:28nothing interesting to say. You scroll

6:31through hours of content every week, but

6:34if someone at dinner asks you what

6:36you've been up to lately, you don't know

6:38what to say. Your mind goes blank even

6:41though you've consumed thousands of

6:42pieces of content in the past month,

6:44there's not a single one that is worth

6:46sharing. And the third symptom is that

6:48you feel like you stopped growing. You

6:50feel like you were more interesting 5

6:52years ago because you went deep on

6:54topics, you read books, you had hobbies

6:56you were interested in, and you feel

6:58like something has changed because you

7:00don't feel that excitement anymore. But

7:02the good news is that it's completely

7:04reversible and the fix is extremely

7:07simple. And step number one is you have

7:09to reset your dopamine so it goes back

7:11to your baseline so you can regain your

7:13motivation. Anywhere from 1 day to 7

7:16days is going to help you reset your

7:18dopamine system. So just choose any

7:21amount of days in that range. [music]

7:23And rules of the fast is to eliminate

7:25your highest stimulation behaviors like

7:28binge watching TV or algorithmic feeds

7:31like Twitter and Reddit and TikTok and

7:33Instagram or video games. Basically, you

7:36can still use the internet, but you have

7:39to fully eliminate those things that

7:40actually make the internet so high

7:42stimulation and always spike your

7:44dopamine. Like [music] you can still

7:46read articles, but it would be much

7:48better if you do not go on social media,

7:51for example. And during the fast, you

7:53have to create [music] friction between

7:54you and those behaviors. You have to put

7:57your phone in another room while you

7:58work, turn off notifications, [music]

8:00delete apps if you need to. And over the

8:03years, I kind of developed this habit

8:05where as soon as social media becomes

8:08overstimulating to me, I basically take

8:10my phone, I delete Instagram, TikTok, I

8:13delete Twitter, and I don't go there

8:15anymore. And I last like that for maybe

8:18a few weeks and then I get them back.

8:20But an interesting thing is that I still

8:22use Instagram on my computer in the

8:25browser because I often communicate with

8:27my friends, I text with my friends on

8:29Instagram and I don't want to miss any

8:30of the messages.

8:32But because it's so inconvenient to use

8:36Instagram and watch reels on a computer,

8:39you just don't really want to do it. So

8:41I created this exception for myself

8:42where I am allowed to read messages and

8:45reply to my friends, but I'm not allowed

8:47to actually watch the content. And step

8:49number two is move your body. If there's

8:52one thing that neuroscience is anonymous

8:55on, it's that exercise is the most

8:58powerful tool for restoring your

8:59dopamine system. It increases dopamine

9:01production, it increases receptor

9:03sensitivity. And people who exercise

9:06regularly, they have more natural

9:08motivation, they have more curiosity,

9:11and it happens because, loosely

9:13speaking, they have more dopamine to

9:15work with. So they feel more motivated.

9:18And even 30 minutes of walking a day,

9:20it's a great start. And step number

9:22three is tonight, instead of opening

9:25your feed, pick one thing that caught

9:27your attention recently and spend 20

9:30minutes really exploring it. Maybe

9:32you're curious to learn more about

9:34psychology, so go read a full article

9:36about some topic in psychology. Go watch

9:39a long form video. Go ask AI questions

9:42about that topic and keep asking it

9:44questions. Go deep on it to see how it

9:47actually feels to be interested in

9:49something again. So you do not actually

9:51lack curiosity. You lack the dopamine to

9:54act on it.

9:56So, now do a dopamine reset, move your

9:59body, and go on a 20-minute rabbit hole

10:02about some topic [music] that you find

10:03interesting. And being interested in

10:06things, being genuinely deeply

10:08interested in the world around you, it's

10:10the most attractive, the most creative,

10:12and the most life-changing thing you can

10:14be. Because being [music] interested is

10:18being interesting.

10:20Thank you for watching and subscribe if

10:21this helped. I am currently building up

10:23my YouTube channel. So, any sort of

10:26suggestions for next video topics, any

10:28sort of comments or likes would be

10:30greatly appreciated. Thank you.