The Rise of Cryptosis
Have you ever picked up your phone, opened Facebook… scrolled through your feed; put your phone down…And did it all over again 5 minutes later. Or better yet, checked the price of your invested cryptocurrency, hit refresh….minutes later…Hit refresh again… And if you are anything like me - refresh one more time just for good luck - not because you OCD or anything.
Now that I have sparked your limbic system (a really useful part of your brain) to trigger some sort of trip down memory lane, have you ever thought of the possibility of being addicted to cryptocurrencies? Come on - is there even a slight chance that some mornings when you wake up - the first thing you do before even taking a leek; you check the price of Bitcoin.
Lets take a step back for that holistic view, and for now assume most of you are addicted to something. From that deep desire for good cup-o-joe every morning all the way to a need to put your faith in the metallic hands of some Random Number Generated slot machine. These are all addictions - yes; some less healthy than others (#NoJudgment), but with any addiction comes an awesome release of dopamine. Which is your internal reward system - rewarding you.
Everyday I seek things that will push my creativity, broaden my knowledge and understanding of the present and the future, and I’m addicted to feeling that rush of obtaining them. Lets call them Aesthetic experiences, and when I don’t get them - I seem to find myself feeling down, stagnant and left wanting more. Sounds like some what of a withdrawal doesn’t it… and thats what led me to ponder on something friends and I refer to as Cryptosis (not the disorder of thinking you are invisible) but cryptocurrencies ability to create euphoria to the extent of becoming an addiction.
Before the 1980’s, gambling was considered a compulsion and not an addiction; as it was believed it was motivated behavior due to a need to relive anxiety rather than a deep desire for pleasure. And yes apparently thats the distinguishing factor. But after 15 years of debate - it was finally agreed upon that the little waves of satisfaction gambling produced in your cranium was closer to that of cocaine and needed to be treated differently.
See drug addicts and gamblers display very similar if not the same genetic predisposition for impulsivity, this causes them to seek rewards at every opportunity of their chosen high. And for those who are classified as compulsive addicts, the problem comes in when they need to take even more risks to get that same awesome wave of satisfaction.
So now you might see where I’m going with this, heck it might even be creating a little sense of butterflies in your belly. Since about a year ago - my investments have gotten bigger, I mean come on; higher risk = higher rewards right. In a volatile market like this, you got to risk it to get the biscuit. But I also seem to check CoinMarketCap at least 6 times a day, I spend way too much time researching the new ICO’s; and I even find myself staring at a blank wall trying to think of a new strategy to play with.
So I left googling any thing about this until I had gotten to the end of this post, and to my amazement - I found a number of forums calling to the addiction of cryptocurrencies. So maybe, just maybe - we are seeing a rise of a new form of addiction. Something between gambling and the exponential trend of social media’s addiction.