Before you read any further, something has already happened.
You saw the headline and, almost instantly, your brain made a prediction. This might be interesting. This might be relevant. This might be worth a few moments of time.
That small flicker of anticipation you felt was in fact dopamine.
Not pleasure. Not enjoyment. Just expectation.
Your brain decided there might be a reward in continuing, so it nudged you forward. Just enough to keep reading.
This article has not given you anything yet, but your brain is already leaning in, so you may as well carry on now you've got this far!
Dopamine is a legal, socially accepted high we all experience every single day of our lives.
This high sits in stark contrast to the addictions we openly condemn as humans. Drugs, alcohol, gambling. These are labelled, regulated and discussed as dangers. Entire campaigns, industries and systems exist to protect us from them. Yet every single one of us walks around with a ‘direct dopamine delivery device' in our pockets.
Our mobile phones.
They are legal, encouraged and essential. And for pretty much all of us, they are the most consistent source of dopamine we experience all day.
If the average person is awake for 16 hours a day and spends 5 of those on their phone, that means nearly a third of their conscious life is spent chasing screen based dopamine hits. Not sleeping. Not fully present. Just feeding the anticipation loop.
We don't call it addiction because it doesn't look like one. It looks like productivity, connection, organisation and work.
But watch what happens when someone misplaces their phone. The anxiety, the restlessness, the unconscious reflex to reach for something that is no longer there. That is not inconvenience that is a dopamine supply being interrupted.
Dopamine is often misunderstood as the pleasure chemical. In reality, it is the anticipation chemical. The thing that drives us to seek, scroll, tap and refresh.
Our phones are perfectly designed for this. Endless feeds, notifications, likes, messages, all delivering small, unpredictable hits at irregular intervals.
You are not checking your phone for pleasure, you're checking it for the possibility of pleasure. That is how the addiction lurks in the shadows. Not through excess, but through normalisation.
The same mechanism underpins many of our other socially accepted highs. The coffee that supposedly starts the day. The run that clears the head. The lunch ritual that punctuates the afternoon. The glass of wine that that marks the end of a long day.
Each one delivers a small, predictable dopamine hit. None of them dangerous in isolation, but incredibly powerful when repeated day after day.
This is not about weakness, its about wiring. Humans are exceptionally good at repeating behaviours that reduce uncertainty and create reward. In a demanding, always on world, dopamine becomes both motivator and comfort blanket.
But something interesting is happening. As dopamine delivery becomes constant, it can also become exhausting. The endless scroll, the pressure to respond, the feeling of always being available, always consuming. What once felt stimulating now often feels draining. This is known as digital fatigue. Not a rejection of technology, but a quiet rebellion.
When every moment is filled, nothing feels special. When every reward is instant, anticipation disappears. And without anticipation, dopamine loses its power.
This is why physical experiences are resurgent. Not as an escape from digital life, but as a counterbalance to it. Physical places offer something screens cannot. Presence. Immersion. Shared experience. A clear beginning, middle and end. You cannot endlessly scroll a moment. You have to be in it.
That scarcity is what makes physical experiences feel richer, more grounding and more human. And this is where retail and visitor attractions come into sharp focus.
The most effective destinations understand they are not competing with other venues. They are competing with the device in your hand.
Your phone already offers novelty, validation and reward. To pull someone away from it, a physical place has to offer something better. Anticipation before arrival. Stimulus on entry. Discovery, surprise and moments worth looking up for. This is why experience led retail outperforms traditional. Why events drive footfall. Why people return to places that make them feel something, even if they cannot quite articulate why.
Good marketing does not create addiction. It recognises behaviour that already exists and designs experiences worth choosing.
Used badly, dopamine becomes manipulation. Used well, it becomes connection.
The future of retail and visitor attractions will not be won by shouting louder or offering more. It will be won by those who understand a simple truth. People are not addicted to shopping. They are addicted to feeling something.
After all, we’re all addicts.