[Jihye Choi's Trend 2024] Blocking Dopamine Addiction and Short-Form Content... The Rise of 'Digital Detox'

Over 80% of YouTube Views Now Come from Shorts
A World Where Stimulating Fun Is Always at Hand
Rise of the 'Dopaming' Trend
Smartphone-Free Cafes and
The Spread of Dopamine Detox Challenges
Fragmentation of Consumer Lifestyles

Jihye Choi, Research Fellow at the Consumer Trend Analysis Center, Seoul National University

As the term ‘Homo Ludens’ (Homo Ludens: playing human) suggests, humans are beings who pursue fun. The desire to play is not a new phenomenon, but the way people seek enjoyment nowadays differs in type and depth from the past. People pursue fun in a wider variety of activities and do not want to be separated from enjoyment even for a moment. This kind of ‘consumption behavior’ is called the ‘Dopaming’ (dopamine + farming) trend.

‘Dopaming’ is not a typo of dopamine. It is a combination of ‘dopamine’ and ‘farming.’ ‘Dopamine’ refers to the neurotransmitter released when experiencing something new and fun, and ‘farming’ is a gaming term that means collecting items like harvesting crops to improve a game character’s abilities. Therefore, ‘Dopaming’ means the effort to try various actions that can trigger the release of dopamine, which brings pleasure.

The growth of short-form content is a representative example of the Dopaming trend. For example, in the past, the only entertaining content was ‘Gag Concert,’ which the whole family watched together on Sunday evenings in front of the TV. Nowadays, however, various platforms are overflowing with all kinds of entertaining content. The length of this content keeps getting shorter. TikTok, which achieved great success with short videos around 15 seconds, as well as existing major platforms like Instagram and YouTube, have introduced Reels and Shorts, respectively, and short, fun content is taking away our time by the ‘minute and second.’

According to Collab Asia, a global creator-specialized company, since YouTube introduced Shorts, short videos under one minute, in 2020, as of January 2023, about 80% or more of YouTube views come from Shorts. Also, after the launch of ‘YouTube Shorts,’ the frequency of a viewer watching a 60-second Short more than 10 times has sharply increased compared to watching a 10-minute YouTube video once. This means we live in a world where stimulating fun is always at hand.

It’s not just content. Recently, new terms like Maepdorfin (spicy + endorphin) and Maepamin (spicy + dopamine) have emerged. People seek the fun of leveling up by finding spicier tastes and relieving stress. Looking at the sales growth rate of spicy products at convenience store CU (compared to the previous year), it steadily increased from 15.6% in 2021 to 21.3% in 2022 and 27% in 2023. Among products sold at GS25, sales of items with names including ‘Maeun’ (spicy), ‘Hot,’ or ‘Spicy’ rose by 38.2% in Q1 2023 (year-on-year) and 26.5% in Q1 2024.

An interesting point is that alongside the emergence of the Dopaming trend, which pursues stimulating fun, there is also a simultaneous boom in dopamine detox or dopamine fasting. Typically, when a trend emerges, phenomena opposing it are called anti-trends. What is noteworthy is that while previous anti-trends were considered niche cultures, Dopaming and anti-Dopaming (dopamine detox) are receiving almost equal levels of choice from people.

Let’s look at dopamine detox as an anti-trend. Recently, dopamine detox challenges have become popular. On KakaoTalk’s open chat rooms and social networking services (SNS), ‘screen time’ challenges sharing daily smartphone usage have appeared. Products like storage cases that lock the phone for a set time so it cannot be opened midway are also gaining popularity.

Spaces that enforce a silent policy banning conversation and phone use have also appeared. ‘Yokmang-ui Book Cafe’ (Desire’s Book Cafe) in Gangnam, Seoul, became famous for its concept of collecting phones before use. Electronic devices like laptops or tablets are also prohibited. ‘Chimmuk’ (Silence), a cafe in Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, goes beyond banning conversation to aim for a ‘completely silent space.’ The cafe’s user guide requests ‘Please set your phone to silent,’ and states ‘Except for ordering and payment, no conversations including whispers are allowed,’ and ‘If it is difficult or you do not want to speak, you can use the Post-it notes at the back of the guide to place your order.’ These spaces have attracted attention as unique ‘healing spaces’ for the MZ generation (Millennials + Generation Z), and some stores reportedly require waiting times.

Companies are also launching content or products themed around digital detox. Since February, SK Telecom has presented a dopamine detox exhibition at T Factory where visitors submit their smartphones and enjoy the exhibition. Visitors store their phones separately and check their dopamine addiction index in a jjimjilbang (Korean sauna) concept exhibition space while enjoying activities like reading and meditation. Some budget phone carriers offer low-data plans for digital detox. For example, since 2022, Finda Direct has operated a ‘Digital Detox’ plan. One such plan, the ‘Digital Detox 3GB Challenge,’ provides only essential amounts such as 3GB data, 30 minutes of calls, and 30 texts for 6,900 KRW per month.

The simultaneous appearance of trends and anti-trends means consumers’ lifestyles are becoming fragmented. Although not formally agreed upon, the era when individual choices followed a common major flow is giving way to trend fragmentation, where diverse values and consumption styles coexist. This makes it harder for companies to grasp the big picture. Now, brands face an era of ‘choice,’ where they must find and focus on ‘our’ consumers within fragmented trends.

Choi Ji-hye, Research Fellow, Consumer Trend Analysis Center, Seoul National University