The power
of story-telling and the impact it has on our lives is undeniable. From ancient
cavemen history where blood, charcoal, and ochre communicated before language
was born, humans expressed their experiences in stories. Our history abounds
with legends and myths, and it seems that nothing much has changed today.
Instead of sitting around a campfire, we bask in the electronic glow of the
internet where social media, news links, and gossip is conveyed moment by
fractured moment. There is an addictive quality amongst our tribes where we hanker after news, views
and more information. We only have to observe the modern obsession with
Facebook, and the like, to realise the growing drug-like dependency, in online
offerings to realise there’s something else at play. So, what’s going on?
What is it
that holds us and keeps us glued to our devices and pulls us together and apart
from others? The polarising of information is addictive, them and us, divided along political and religious lines which has
become more pronounced over recent years. Rest assured, it’s not merely the
stories exchanged amongst members of specific ethnic, political or religious
groups. It goes a whole lot deeper.
Recent
research shows that when we watch a movie, read a book or engage online with
podcasts, social media or listening, our human brain lights up in the feel-good
and primal areas. This response surprised and encouraged researchers to take
blood tests from participants and see what chemicals the brain was unleashing
on unsuspecting humans. The results were intriguing.
When people
listen or read stories of any kind, including, sometimes, destructive gossip on
social media, their brains release a series of feel-good hormones. Three
hormones were identified; Dopamine,
the hormone that gives people a sense of well-being, contentment and promotes
calm acceptance, Serotonin, the
anti-depressant uptake hormone often experienced after exercise, and Oxytocin, the bonding hormone that
floods the bodies of mothers and babies during childbirth. This hormone is
active in bonding lovers and parents to their children, and it appears, human
tribes, that share the same stories too. We are, in fact, connected by our
chemistry.
It’s more than our culture and language that
binds us. It is the hormones flooding our bloodstreams when we participate in collective
story-telling. Let’s go back to the primitive Neanderthal times of our
pre-existence. We need to be bonded, in any way possible, to ensure our tribe’s
survival. Stories, legends, myths, gossip, and in more contemporary times,
social media and cyberspace allow us to connect and remain addicted to the
positive, feel-good hormones and stay closely connected to our cohort.
It will
come as no surprise then, that humans are suffering from sleep deprivation at
an alarming rate. Scientific research has confirmed that the glowing blue light
from smartphones and computer devices breaks down the sleep hormone, melatonin
in our brains, affecting our essential biological ability to function. After
all, sleep deprivation has been a form of torture throughout centuries of
historical conflict. So, the message is, break from your addiction and turn
those devices off at least two hours before bedtime, to let your primitive
biological human brain do what it’s supposed to, and support your ability to
sleep.
Written by New Zealand author, Nicky Webber. For more information see
Nicky Webber’s author page on www.nickywebber.com
and https://www.facebook.com/nickywebbernz
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