I’m old enough to actually have had this kind of phone in my house. When it rang, the entire family would jump. We never knew if it was good news or bad news, but it was most certainly news. We didn’t know that that odd feeling we had when someone yelled through the house, “It’s for you!” was a shot of dopamine giving us that little something extra that made life interesting.
That little ‘bing” back in the 90’s that accompanied AOL’s (remember AOL?) “You’ve got mail!” replaced the thrill of the phone. And now…..
The brilliant educator and author, Joseph Chilton Pearce, once called humans “novelty seeking organisms.” This need to experience something new, something that will charge up the nervous system is not just adrenaline, or endorphins. It’s dopamine, the stuff of novelty, reward and addiction.
There is a way to experience novelty and reward without being attached to your phone. Learning in a pleasurable, nurturing environment can bring new impressions into our experiences. The novelty of discovering new movements of your arm, and a more functional way to turn, can also offer you a new perspective on how you move through your life.
I recently taught this lesson to my online class. It gave new meaning to the experience of novelty! Enjoy.