Michelle van As Therapist

06/10/2025

05/10/2025

Remember...
We're living in dopamine land where we're obsessed with our phones.
This is lowering our oxytocin levels which is a leading cause of modern anxiety...

Dopamine evolved as a chemical that increased a few times a day when we found food, built shelter, and started fires...

Dopamine now increases hundreds of times a day in every moment we interact with our phone...

This is causing us to become unbelievably addicted to them...

So addicted that even short moments of boredom have become very uncomfortable...

This addiction is making real-life connection harder to achieve...

For example choosing to scroll your phone in bed (dopamine) instead of cuddling and chatting to your partner (oxytocin)...

Or... constantly checking your phone in the evening instead of spending time engaging with your family...

Every time we choose dopamine over oxytocin, our oxytocin levels drop...

Low oxytocin levels cause our brains to feel anxious, fearful, and restless...

To create a calm and happy brain we must start reprioritising oxytocin...

We must escape this dopamine land and return to an oxytocin oasis...

This means more physical touch and more active listening...

It means asking better questions and giving more compliments...

Where slower, phone-free, loving moments become our favourite form of relaxation.

Author: Arsalan Moin