Let’s start with a graphical illustration of the wise quote from Jean Antoine Petit-Senn I borrowed for the subtitle of this article.

The internet is an instantly accessible series of dopamine hits. Whenever we feel a little down, instant relief is just a few taps or swipes away. That’s where all too many people seek happiness (finding little more than emptiness).

The most valuable companies in the world have long been consciously exploiting this addictive potential to drive user growth and profit. Here is a stark admission from Chamath Palihapitiya, former Vice President of User Growth at Facebook:

I feel tremendous guilt …. we have created tools that are ripping apart the social fabric of how society works.

You can watch it a little before the 4-minute mark in the video below.

This type of information drove me to stop consuming any products from the “Instant Pleasure Industry” about six months ago. In this article, I want to share more of the rationale behind this move, how I managed to pull it off, and what the experience has been like.

But first…

What Exactly is the Instant Pleasure Industry?

When I talk about the Instant Pleasure Industry, I refer to products or services designed to give you an instant neurochemical reward. As mentioned earlier, the internet and app store are overflowing with offers of instant pleasure. But there are many others such as sugary, fatty, and salty processed foods, shopping, alcohol, tobacco, and more serious drugs.

Now, please don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that the internet is a curse on humanity or that tasty food should be banned. No, the internet is packed with positive information with the power to uplift individuals and society alike. Similarly, some high-quality sweet treats on a special occasion can augment the experience, creating stronger bonds and memories.

Here, I’m only referring to the dangerous parts of these industries — those that addict us to little hits of instant pleasure and then proceed to steadily degrade our long-term health, happiness, and productivity.

Let’s unpack the danger of the Instant Pleasure Industry in more detail.

The Instant Pleasure Vicious Cycle

We all know that we shouldn’t binge Netflix, get lost down the YouTube rabbit hole, or load our trolleys with fatty and sugary processed foods. But we just can’t seem to help ourselves.

And it’s precisely at those times when we’re indulging cravings for things we know are bad for us that the Instant Pleasure Industry is at its most dangerous. Here’s a simple illustration:

I’d venture to say that the Instant Pleasure Industry makes most of its money from people trying to escape negative emotions like anxiety, frustration, or boredom. And that’s precisely where the vicious cycle starts: all the procrastination, adverse health effects, reduced sleep quality, diluted social interactions, and diminished energy caused by all this instant pleasure consumption only increases negative emotions in the long run.

It’s crazy. The things we do to escape negative feelings are a leading cause of those very same negative feelings.

My Great Escape

For many years, my vice of choice was a toxic binge-watching-binge-eating combo. A half-decent series or YouTube rabbit hole combined with a supersize ice cream or chocolate has the terrible power to shut down my body’s natural satiety response. The result: several wasted days, a toxic sugar overload, many lost hours of sleep, slumped energy levels, and a hefty dose of guilt.

I’ve been working for years to solve this self-sustaining problem. The key was to remove the biggest frustration from my life — a lack of creative freedom to pursue all the ideas heaping up in my head. But even though my freedom has greatly improved in recent years, I still habitually turned to the Instant Pleasure Industry whenever things got a little tough.

Then, six months ago, I decided to quit cold turkey—no more purchases of empty calories or empty media. No more turning to unhealthy dopamine hits whenever I feel down.

And to my delightful surprise, quitting the entire Instant Pleasure Industry turned out to be a lot like quitting sugar — much easier than I feared.

Replacement Therapy

One of the cardinal rules of quitting any bad habit is to fill the resulting void with something better. Luckily, I had several healthy options at my disposal, including a whole mountain in my backyard, a luxurious massage chair, and a piano and guitar prominently displayed in the living room.

But the thing that made the difference for me was a much-belated commitment to rest (deliberate non-doing). Mostly, this simply involves me relaxing in bed and giving my mind permission to wander. I usually time this with my natural afternoon energy dip to maximize the chance of enjoying a revitalizing nap. If it’s nice outside, I might climb my favorite hill to enjoy the view from under my favorite tree:

At first, letting time pass without doing anything concrete made me rather anxious. It’s crazy how we Westerners see no problem wasting hours watching utter nonsense on Netflix, but feel like our lives are passing us by when we take an hour to do nothing.

Those first couple of weeks sure were tough, but my RescueTime stats (graphed below) soon showed me that I was not working any less than before. In fact, deliberately taking some time each day to do nothing actually makes me work even a little bit more.

400 productive hours each month is a lot. But now that I’ve ditched the Instant Pleasure Industry, I finally feel like I no longer need to strive for more. My 400 hours happen because my inspired and well-rested mind wants to stretch its legs, not because I feel pressured to get ahead in the rat race.

It Feels Good!

Ditching the Instant Pleasure Industry eliminated the last great vicious cycle from my life. Today, I finally have the power to deal with life’s inevitable troubles in a positive manner, so there are no knock-on effects. And that gives me immense pleasure!

Do I miss the Instant Pleasure Industry?

No. I can confidently say that the complete absence (outside of special occasions) of empty calories and empty media has not diluted life in any way. Yes, I still get tempted when life throws me the occasional curveball. But these temptations are getting weaker by the month.

Can anyone just up and quit the Instant Pleasure Industry?

Unfortunately, I doubt it. If your life is filled with stress and frustration, resisting the allure of an instant pleasure crutch will be extremely difficult. In my experience, the best strategy is to identify and patiently uproot the most fundamental stressors in your life. And as you get more mental space, use it to fortify your environment against unhealthy temptations to further accelerate your positive transformation.

But if your life is already going at a comfortable pace, a full Instant Pleasure Industry boycott is certainly on the cards! Make sure you have plenty of healthy options to fill that void and take the plunge.

Give it a try! You might be surprised by how much more pleasurable life becomes without the Instant Pleasure Industry.