A Kinder Way to Rebalance: ADHD, Dopamine & Tech
We hear a lot about dopamine in relation to brain function, but what exactly is it, what does it do, and how can understanding it help us restore a calmer, more compassionate rhythm to ADHD life?
What is dopamine?
Dopamine is a type of neurotransmitter. It’s a chemical messenger used by the brain to communicate between nerve cells. It plays a key role in motivation, movement, attention, mood, and learning. It’s not a standalone ‘happy chemical,’ but part of a complex system that helps us decide what to pay attention to, what to act on, and how to keep our internal balance.
It’s released in response to things our brain thinks are worth pursuing: a potential reward, a curious sight, or a task successfully completed. However, dopamine isn’t the reward itself, it’s the nudge forward — the anticipation. That’s what makes it so crucial, and often so frustrating, for those of us with ADHD: we feel the drive to act but struggle to follow through.
When dopamine ‘misfires’, we’re left with the itch of anticipation but without the reward. This is a common experience in ADHD. It describes a dopamine spike that doesn’t land well. The brain kicks up a little burst of motivation or urgency (the spike), but without enough follow-through or satisfaction (the reward), we’re left fidgety, restless, or guilt-ridden. Understanding this helps us restore a calmer, more compassionate rhythm to ADHD life.
Does this sound familiar? You are sitting at your desk with every intention of writing a to-do list. The idea sparks a bit of dopamine — that anticipatory buzz. But without a consistent follow-through mechanism, the buzz fizzles out. You might then find yourself being busily active, for example, organising your pens, or reaching for your phone. It’s not that you don't care; it's that the dopamine nudge didn't turn into the forward motion your brain was hoping for.
Is this a pattern in your life? That dopamine nudge makes it look like you are chasing stimulation. Not because you’re reckless, but because your brain is hungry for a sense of aliveness, momentum, and purpose. And in today’s world, that often means scrolling, snacking, multi-tabbing, and ‘just one more episode’.
The Cave-Man Way
Psychologist T.J. Power encourages us to restore the rhythm we evolved to thrive in.
T.J. Power, co-founder of The Digital Mind and a former university lecturer in psychology, describes modern life as a dopamine minefield. Hundreds of little spikes before breakfast — news alerts, Instagram likes, ultra-processed food, and emails pinging like popcorn. It might feel like stimulation, but it's actually exhaustion masquerading as engagement (Power, 2022).
Power invites us to return to what he calls a more "cave-man" aligned lifestyle — one that honours our nervous system’s evolutionary design. That means:
Movement before screens
Face-to-face connection
Real food, real light, and real rest
Activities that take time and give back slowly
These slow rewards regulate our nervous system. For ADHD minds, they offer stability without burnout.
He also emphasises the benefits of deliberate "dopamine resets" — like taking a cold shower. While it sounds unpleasant, the shock to the system can prompt a steady release of dopamine over the following hours, without the rollercoaster crash that follows artificial spikes (Power, 2022).
Enter: A gentle return to No-tech
What does this approach look like in real life? Well, I’m not suggesting we up-end our working hours, but for me, it starts with rethinking leisure time. Gifting ourselves a taste of peace which we generate from within, not externally.
Leisure-time no-tech for me is:
Playing a musical instrument instead of playing Candy Crush
A paper book at bedtime, not a backlit screen
Jigsaws (during dark winter evenings only, to honour the seasonal cycle) rather than the telly
Walking without an earpiece. Taking in the scene, yet not over-analysing it
Swimming, but not even counting lengths. I delegate that to my pot of many buttons.
So, it’s not anti-tech. It’s tech in its place. It asks nothing urgent of us. It allows our dopamine to settle, rather than spike (Richtel, 2010; Ward et al., 2017).
What This Means for ADHD Life
When we understand dopamine not as a “fix” but as part of a system that’s trying (and struggling) to keep us balanced, we can meet ourselves with more compassion.
We can:
Design our environments to favour gentle stimulation
Choose activities that replenish rather than deplete
Build daily habits that reflect how our brains actually work
And most importantly, we can stop blaming ourselves for needing something different. Because it turns out, different might be exactly what we need.
What is it your brain is begging you to do much more slowly right now?
References:
Kamerman, P. R., Mitchell, D., & Labuschagne, M. (2021). Cold exposure and pain modulation: Neurochemical mechanisms and therapeutic implications. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 120, 123–132.
Power, T. J. (2022). Digital Dopamine: A digital psychologist's guide to balancing your brain chemistry in a modern world. The Digital Mind.
Ratey, J. J., & Hagerman, E. (2008). Spark: The revolutionary new science of exercise and the brain. Little, Brown.
Richtel, M. (2010). Your brain on computers: Hooked on gadgets, and paying a mental price. The New York Times.
