If you have spent any time on TikTok recently, you might have seen people talking about their “Dopamine Menu.” For once, this isn’t just a fleeting trend or toxic positivity. It is a genuinely brilliant tool, especially for those of us with ADHD or anyone who feels their brain is constantly hunting for stimulation but ending up in a doom-scrolling spiral.
We all know that feeling: You have free time, you want to relax, but you end up staring at your phone for two hours, feeling worse than when you started. That is because your brain is craving dopamine—the reward chemical—and it is taking the path of least resistance (your phone). The Dopamine Menu is a strategy to hack that system, giving your brain what it needs without the guilt.
