Anna Lembuk, a scientist, is approached by a college student who is addicted to games and tells her that she was suffering from anxiety and depression and was unable to continue her Xi studies, so she had to drop out of school and spend most of her day playing online games until late at night. He hopes for the help of scientists. It took Anna a month to help him quit his internet addiction. 
This is a story written at the beginning of the book "Addiction". Addiction to online games and loss of social ** is currently one of the most common problems that causes parent-child conflict. There are many ways to solve the problem, but we might as well analyze the problem from the perspective of neuroscience and find a balance between learning Xi and entertainment.
Fragmented happiness brings with it a dopamine trap
Anna is a professor of psychiatry and addiction medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine and has spent the last 25 years studying why people become addicted to certain things and how to enjoy them in a reasonable way. Anna brings up the dopamine trap that comes with fragmented pleasure.
Dopamine is a chemical produced by the brain and is a neurotransmitter involved in the mechanisms of pleasure and reward. When we do something we love, the brain releases a small amount of dopamine, which makes it pleasant. In the brain, the areas that process pleasure and pain overlap. To use a figurative metaphor, happiness and pain are like the two ends of a scale. When dopamine is released, the scales tilt towards the happy end and then towards the painful end to maintain balance, which is why a sense of loss can arise after indulging in pleasure. Therefore, the child wants to play another round of games, wants to get the feeling of happiness again, and can't stop repeatedly, which is addiction.
However, with repeated exposure to similar pleasant stimuli, the intensity of the pleasure will become lower and shorter, which is called neurotolerance. To get the same pleasure, you need more stimulation, which makes the addiction bigger and bigger. Once stopped, withdrawal symptoms occur – restlessness, irritability, insomnia, and distress.
Anna asked college students seeking help to refrain from playing video games for a month to bring the brain's dopamine levels back into balance. After a month, the student's anxiety and depression were alleviated. Next, she asked the students to do three things:
First, limit the amount of time you can play, two hours a day, two days a week, to give the brain enough time to regain balance.
Second, separate Xi from entertainment. Use two computers, one to play games and the other to Xi, and no longer play overly exciting games.
Third, strengthen interpersonal communication. Only playing games with friends, friendship is originally a beneficial ** of dopamine. 
Use scientific research to help your child
When children have problems with game addiction, we can also use the results of scientific research to help children:
One is to understand the facts, such as when and how often you use electronics. Record how much time you spend playing, Xi, and socializing, and analyze together whether the time allocation is reasonable.
The second is to think about why they are overly reliant on electronic products. For many children, it is because of family, school, Xi problems that they use online products to relieve anxiety, divert attention, and escape from reality. Therefore, parents should focus on solving real problems, rather than blindly restricting and blaming their children for using electronic products.
The third is to recognize the consequences and effects of addiction and start withdrawal. For example, physical isolation, putting mobile phones and computers in places that are not easily accessible.
Fourth, mindfulness practice Xi and cultivate the habit of exercising Xi. Studies have found that the minimum time it takes to rebuild the brain's reward circuits is a month, and you can use mindfulness Xi to observe your own chaotic thoughts and painful emotions, and you can get a fulfilling experience in about two weeks. Exercise is then used to establish a new dopamine set point, and the brain's pleasure-pain balance tilts toward the happy end.
Fifth, be honest with your children. Parents often only show their good side, but in fact, they should admit to their children that they also have inappropriate behaviors, such as playing cards, drinking, shopping without moderation and other addiction problems, so that children do not doubt themselves because they have addiction problems. Parents need to spend more time with their children and work together to find ways to cope with stress.
Sixth, the Xi of learning is delayed gratification. There are so many things that stimulate dopamine that can be satisfied at any time, for example, most people like to watch short**, just because it is a highly concentrated euphoria. Delaying gratification can help your child regain lost patience.
Don't let your brain get occupied by cravings
Anna Lembuck says that the human brain has developed a delicate balance of pleasure and pain over millions of years of evolution because in the distant past, danger was everywhere and happiness was scarceToday, we live in an era of material overload, and the number of drugs and behaviors that make people addicted is unprecedentedly large, varied, and powerful. But the easier it is to be happy, the more miserable it is for us.
In the face of addiction, you can't simply blame technology for creating traps, and don't reprimand children for being weak-willedIt's just that because it's too easy to come into contact with addictive drugs and behaviors, the human brain, which has evolved over millions of years, can't reconcile with modern life. Coupled with excessive stress, depression, anxiety, insomnia, and the brain always tries to compensate itself with too much happiness. So don't let your brain be overrun by cravings, learn Xi patience and wait. It is important to know that indulgence can only obtain short-term happiness, self-control can achieve long-term happiness, and the more self-disciplined, the freer.
*: Popular Science Times.
Source: Visual China.
Author: Li Zhengrong (the author is a popular science writer and gold medal reading promoter).
Editor: Wu Tong.
Review: Wang Fei.
Final review: Yin Chuanhong.