“Dopamine detox”, a digital cure with little information and a lot of intoxication – Libération

Popularized on the networks, this practice aims to divert our brain from immediate pleasures such as the Internet, fast food or porn, to better appreciate the simple joys of everyday life. A logic as dubious on paper as it is shaky in real life.

Louis Esquier, a professional YouTuber proud of his almost 180,000 subscribers, has completely changed his daily life. As part of his “dopamine detox”, he cut himself off from screens: no more TikTok, Instagram or Facebook, no more video games and League of LegendsShort, ciao Internet. But that's not all. He also gave up fast food and porn. Instead, Louis tries his hand at drawing, lifting weights at the gym or taking up reading with the millionaire's highway by MJ DeMarco or How to make friends? by Dale Carnegie. When he really has nothing left to do, the young man hangs out at Place Bellecour in Lyon “to try to approach women”. Result : “I haven’t addressed any of them”.

Deemed a “miracle” phenomenon, videos displaying the keyword #dopaminedetox have been viewed more than 87 million times on TikTok. Recently, Léna Situations (2.9 million subscribers on YouTube) tried a variation by partially cutting herself off from screens for a month. In short, the trend is attractive. Yet few people seem to really understand it. No, dopamine is not the hormone of pleasure, but that of motivation and learning p