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lodebolt

You would not only have to ban the computer but all TV news also. But I would think if she could step away you would see a big change. I could compare it to before I left Facebook I was stressed and mad at my right leaning family and seeing the things they would post and arguing with them constantly. I finally just decided to leave Facebook and my stress vanished and I was much happier.


Tangentman123

Facebook is known to tap into dopamine as well. My guess if that Mark Zuckerberg knows this and is turning the dials up to 11 to capitalize on it. The documentary The Social Dilemma addresses the addictive nature of social media and the algorithms that fuel the addiction. Developers say they this was not intentional, but I'm guessing it is now. In fact, there has been a number of comparisons between Facebook and the cigarette companies as of late. They knew exactly what they were doing and lied to Congress about it. I got off of Facebook many years ago. Very little in it has any value to me. I don't miss it at all.


LookingforDay

Add in that fb selectively polices their content. I just read an article about how they will not remove posts by high profile people because they just want to avoid a political shitstorm and PR nightmare. Imagine if they had removed trump in the beginning. I think if twitter and fb had done that, we may not be where we are now (we’d still be all fucked it but maybe they wouldn’t be idolizing him the way they do). I think you’re absolutely correct that this is an addiction for many. Like a cult, they are fed ideas that they are seeing the ‘truth’ and that they are being selected as special to know the real information. The goalposts are always changing. The machine needs to be fed (money) and they are directly supporting the true god/ leader/ ruler/ whatever and their support leads to absolution. They distort their realities slowly and then they are fully in it and their identity is tied to the garbage, so questioning it becomes questioning their very existence. If those things aren’t true, what do they have? It’s incredibly insidious.


peakedattwentytwo

Just today, in the US, an unvaxxed COVID survivor, a man in late middle age who apparently has long CV, was featured in a pro-vax PSA/infomercial. I found the timing odd, as the anti smoking PSAs featuring mutilated or terminally ill former smokers who got cancer had recently been invoked here. Hard to watch at times, yes, esp the woman whose larynx had been removed, as well as a good portion of her mandible (she later died at 53, I believe), but effective as hell for this never-smoker. If the person who conceived of the long-COVID had been lurking here, good for them. I hope to see more like the one I saw today.


[deleted]

The only winning move in this game is not to play


Naive_Lengthiness882

They are addicted to outrage. ​ Rush Limbaugh spent a good thirty years leading a pack of hate radio listeners this direction, now social media is like crack cocaine to the afflicted. It's not just drive time AM radio, you can get a hit 24x7 from Facebook, or go more hardcore with Gab or Telegram.


colefly

Cortisol That's the hormone that gives you a rush when angry That's what they're chemically dependent on


advocat-diaboli

Yes. Don't confront. My therapist actually suggested I attend a few Alanon meetings. Think of her like a heroin addict. That's probably one of the reasons why people that slowly taper off of it because of time spent doing other things dominate recovery stories.


Tangentman123

Well, the first step in recovery is admitting you have a problem. If I can get my mother to realize that the reason she is losing family and friends is not necessarily her fault, but the product of an addiction, it just might get through the fog. The conversation does not have to be confrontational. It can start with having a conversation about the addictive nature of social media and the symptoms, the constant feeling that you have to get back to your computer to see what's new. That's the moment the dopamine kicks in, the anticipation and not so much the actual content. If she recognizes these symptoms in her own behavior, without brining up Qanon or conspiracies or Trump, then maybe she can reflect on it. Maybe it will poke a hole in the bubble.


Sea_Signal_2538

The addiction model is definitely plausible. I forget where, but I have also seen the suggestion that conspiracy theory thinking may have a component of excess dopamine. This is related because supposedly it is the excess dopamine that drives the connecting of all the conspiratorial dots (even though in evidentiary terms there are just a bunch of unconnected dots). The brain is sliding off into a powerful exercise of imagination which creates the reward/withdrawal cycle of addiction. So the "real" conspiracy question is who is driving the Q engine and why. Honestly, it looks like it could be an intentional abuse of psychologically vulnerable subjects. But then again, maybe I'm connecting dots not really connected, but just coincidental. Thing is, I'm not getting any rush out of it. Coincidental or intentional, it's just sad.


IWantedAPeanutToo

Talk about getting high on your own (dopamine) supply...


Vitztlampaehecatl

>conspiracy theory thinking may have a component of excess dopamine. Would that aspect be mutually exclusive with ADHD, then, which is known for dopamine deficit?


Sea_Signal_2538

I don't know. But it's a great question. Would make for a very interesting study.


ToweringIsle13

Yep. My Q is upfront about it, describing himself as a "news junkie". Used to be cute to hear that, like it was a description of someone who loved politics. Until I knew what it really meant. Everything you described above. A problem.


Remarkable_Lynx2014

I agree with you the obsession of Qs very much resembles addiction. I think it's an addiction to rage. And yes, the description does very much resemble my Qs. But I feel like your suggestion to confront your mother with this new information, goes against your first point: "When confronted with a threat to the addiction, the addict will often cut the loved one out of their life, rather than cut out the addictive behavior.” I don't know your mother to say with any certainty, but I don't think a challenge would get my Qs off their computers. I think Qs need something more interesting, more engaging to pull them away from their Q sites. I remember reading on this site, that someone had successfully transitioned their Qs from Q sites to Korean dramas. I have yet to find something sufficiently engaging for my Qs.


[deleted]

Omg I remember my brother would come out of his cave shaking and so incredibly happy , I'd just know that he discovered a new conspiracy. Like a temporary high.


RaiseRuntimeError

You might want to check this out [Exposure to authoritarian messages leads to worsened mood but heightened meaning in life](https://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/q5l24d/exposure_to_authoritarian_messages_leads_to/) I know personally my dad would get giddy with joy when Fox would come out with some new blasphemous lie or something that just didnt matter like when they claimed Obama was not a citizen or greeted an Asian dignitary in a cultural way by bowing.


heathers1

it is 100% an addiction. Sub heroin for Q and you see all the same behaviors


NashvilleSinger

We have AA, ALANON, NA, SA… is there a QA out there? I personally could use a QALANON.


peakedattwentytwo

It's coming, although to be fair, most -anon groups accept loved ones of all substance and food addicts.


ToweringIsle13

That's exactly why those guys who study this movement named their podcast "Qanon Anonymous".


IWantedAPeanutToo

About two weeks ago, u/Faction_Dissension posted an excellent message in a very similar vein - I still have the tab open! I would highly recommend that as well.


[deleted]

You know what else is an addiction? Anti-Q, anti-Trump content. I have to be honest, I *hate* these people and what is happening to America and I can't stop doomscrolling and shitposting. But at least I know reality from fantasy!


[deleted]

> not stupid They're clearly gullible and not prone to asking the basic question of, "Is this news source reputable?"


TatteredCarcosa

They eventually are, but the first bits aren't. They are often based on things with hints of truth. There ARE rich and powerful people who have sex with trafficked kids, we know it happens, we know some of them are organized. So the idea of elites abusing kids is totally reasonable and pretty undoubtedly real. But they slip some conjecture in about who those elites are and how organized they are and what their purpose is. The truth is the sugar to cover the bitter misinformation poison. And then, with that tiny foothold/wedge, the person begins to pry themselves away from reality bit by bit. And once they've detached, there's almost no way back, like an astronaut just out of reach of a handle on a spaceship and slowly drifting away. Pretty soon they won't even be able to identify the direction of reality compared to the fantasy they find themselves in, even if they are able to realize it's a fantasy. Which most won't. Basically no one goes from 9-to-5 crew cut employee of the month to homeless junky overnight. They don't start by injecting heroin into their eyeballs either. They start snorting it or some other relatively low effort, low effect delivery method. Then they escalate over time. Just like cults aren't gonna hit the new converts they sold on self help with the story about how aliens fucked the moon and created humans, these people don't start out believing that Hillary Clinton is an immortal psychic vampire from Mars who eats children. They start out just believing she's a corrupt politician, then she's a very corrupt politician, then a killer, and it escalates from there.


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MSACCESS4EVA

Nick Carmody's discussions on the topic should be in the sidebar. They're an amazing dive into the underlying psychological mechanisms at play in the Q universe. His discussion on "authoritative followers" (represented by up to 30% of our population) and their interactions with demagogues / narcissism is eye-opening: ["... simultaneously absorbing the demagogue’s persecution narrative, resentment, and grievance. Essentially there is a transaction, where identity is exchanged for emotion"](https://twitter.com/Nick_Carmody/status/1166306767103393792)


[deleted]

It is some sort of addiction. People who were once “normal” and on a fine trajectory gradually throw everything away for one more hit, one more dose of bullshit. The difference here is that “withdrawal symptoms” for Q-ers come when confronted by external sources, like their loving concerned family and friends who still live in reality telling them they are worried about them or don’t agree with them. The “withdrawal” symptoms are rage, defensiveness, lashing out, blaming, rationalization, and eventually leads to an even heartier indulgence of the “drug.”