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Is dopamine fasting key to doomscrolling and online addiction?
Dopamine has been villainised in pop-psychology but it may not be as inherently 'bad' as it has been made out to be
- PUBLISHED: Thu 19 Feb 2026, 2:06 PM
“It would start with a notification—a friend sending me a reel. I’d open it and then without even thinking my thumb would swipe up.”
“The algorithm knows me. A curated selection of content would have me swiping up again and again and again. I’d be scrolling mindlessly without even realising it.”
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“And then I’d get the itch for a snack. Crisps, biscuits—anything salty and crunchy! On any given day, I’d waste an hour or two just scrolling and snacking. But sometimes, I’d waste time and money too because the scrolling led to a lot of impulse buys.”
Elissa*, a 43-year-old entrepreneur and expat mum of three living in Dubai, would have been content to carry on like this had it not been for a comment from her youngest son. “He said I’m always smiling when I’m on my phone but angry when I’m not,” she admitted. “It was harsh. I love my kids and family and this was my me-time. It was interesting to see how they perceived it.”
But she knew if she was being completely honest with herself, she would admit that her habits had created a cycle of bad mood and constant restlessness, making it harder to be present when she wasn’t scrolling.
When she brought up the incident to her therapist, she was shocked to learn the neurological effects her actions were having on her brain and mood. She wasn’t actually relaxing her mind, rather she was overstimulating it. And she was training her brain to expect and chase this pattern.
What is dopamine?
Like many, Elissa thought she was just filling in the boredom with a harmless guilty pleasure. But what’s really happening beneath the surface when we constantly scroll, snack, and impulse buy is a series of tiny chemical surges. Dopamine—the body’s feel-good hormone—is being released into the system. It’s the brain’s key reward messenger and it’s firing each time we laugh, swipe, and click.
Dopamine has been recently villainised in pop-psychology but it isn’t inherently “bad”. It’s a type of monoamine neurotransmitter that communicates messages between nerve cells in your brain and the rest of your body.
It works alongside chemicals like serotonin, oxytocin, and endorphins to play a role in many body functions like movement, memory, pleasurable reward and motivation, behaviour and cognition, attention, sleep and arousal, mood, and learning.
“As with everything, balance is the key,” explained Dr. Rajasekaran, a specialist psychiatrist at OPENMINDS Centre for Psychiatry, Counselling and Neuroscience, who does not treat Elissa.
“When dopamine signalling is too weak in key brain circuits, people may struggle with motivation, procrastination, and completing tasks; symptoms often seen in depression or ADHD.
“On the other hand, when the dopamine reward system becomes over-activated or dysregulated, especially by frequent exposure to high-reward stimuli, the drive for immediate, intense rewards can push someone toward compulsive behaviours and addiction.”
Dopamine in the brain
Dopamine works in two ways in the brain: phasic and tonic activity. Phasic dopamine activity is a brief and event-driven release of dopamine. We get it when we encounter something exciting, novel, or any sudden “reward cue” that triggers a quick hit of pleasure or anticipation.
Tonic dopamine activity, on the other hand, is a steady, baseline release of dopamine in the brain. We’re exposed to it when we’re engaged in steady state and consistent activities like reading a book, exercising, or working on a creative pursuit.
The distinction is important because they have different roles: phasic dopamine is involved in learning and adapting based on specific events, while tonic dopamine serves a more general regulatory function. Regulation of dopamine is key to ensure mental wellness.
But now, unlike any other time in human history, we’re being exposed to phasic dopamine triggers constantly. Through social media, notifications, the abundance of available pleasurable food and entertainment choices, our nervous system gets overstimulated daily with constant micro-moments of pleasure.
“Over time, this can desensitise dopamine receptors, making ordinary daily experiences in life feel less rewarding,” said Dr. Rajasekaran. “The very thing that helps us stay motivated and survive can become detrimental to our well-being.”
Do we all need to begin ‘dopamine fasting’? The short answer: no.
Mostly because dopamine fasting is a term popularised by social media—a catchy title that shouldn’t be taken literally.
“The idea of dopamine fasting is problematic because ‘to fast’ means to abstain, or severely reduce or restrict something. And we need dopamine in every system in our body,” explained Dr. Rajasekaran. “It’s a critical component that we can’t and don’t want to get rid of.
Instead, we should be looking at ways to reduce overstimulating the brain’s reward circuits, not depleting dopamine itself.“
To help cut back on the compulsion to check and spend time on her phone, Elissa was encouraged by her therapist to look for activities that helped retrain her reward system. “I picked up reading again—and started going on evening walks in this cool weather,” she said. “I chose activities where I’m not alone and isolated and I began experiencing that slow, mindful pleasure again.
“And yes, even my kids noticed an improvement in my mood!”
Regaining sensitivity
By stepping back from these high-intensity stimuli, the brain gradually regains sensitivity to natural rewards. Clinically, this can improve focus, impulse control, and emotional regulation. Many people report feeling calmer, more present, and more motivated after such breaks. Dopamine is not ‘reset,’ but rather the brain’s reward balance and attention systems are given a chance to recover.
“When you give the brain a break from constant, high-intensity stimulation, its reward system can find its natural balance again,” Dr. Rajasekaran said. “When that happens, you break the stimulation cycle and everyday experiences start to feel genuinely rewarding again.”
*Name changed for privacy.
