Ever wondered what happened to all that excitement you had the day you got your first Apple Watch? That initial high slowly (sometimes quickly) subsides and your subjective sense of well-being, that marginal pleasure you derived from the utility that the gadget provided, slowly returns to your “baseline.”
This short-term high you get from a new relationship or a new gadget is usually short-lived unless you rev up the excitement from time to time. In the case of relationships, activities like taking a trip outside of your well adapted neighborhood, watching a horror movie together or bungee jumping keep the relationship going. And in the case of gadgets, media and marketers hack your mind to get you hooked on to the next best device that promises newness.
The science behind your habitual behaviors gives you insight into your behaviors. It turns out, the short-term addictive, pleasure seeking behavior is driven by dopamine while, the generous, long-term happiness is driven by serotonin.
Here is a great resource on how our mind gets confused between short-term pleasure and long-term happiness:
Desire hath no rest, is infinite in itself, endless, and as one calls it, a perpetual rack, or horse-mill – St. Augustine
