[[Ted Gioia ]]is a remarkable culture critic. Both he and his brother, the poet Dana Gioia should be more widely read. [Read every word of this](https://open.substack.com/pub/tedgioia/p/the-state-of-the-culture-2024?r=2lk49&utm_medium=ios) and try not to extrapolate almost any of its conclusions to electoral politics. The nut graph: > The fastest growing sector of the culture economy is distraction. Or call it scrolling or swiping or wasting time or whatever you want. But it’s not art or entertainment, just ceaseless activity. And, of course, political communication is lumped all in between. Some bits of culture, a heaping ton of entertainment, and a whole lot of otherwise ephemeral noise that we might best hope to make less distracting. More Ted Gioia: >This is more than just the hot trend of 2024. It can last forever—because it’s based on body chemistry, not fashion or aesthetics. > >Our brain rewards these brief bursts of distraction. The neurochemical dopamine is released, and this makes us feel good—so we want to repeat the stimulus. > >:The cycle looks like this. This is a familiar model for addiction.  Brilliant observation. This should be on a T shirt and sold widely at the AAPC: ![[71266c34-40c2-4d04-b31c-b368ad358cd0_1970x908.webp]] And this should be a poster on the wall of every ad agency and PR firm, full stop![[b2b5af62-fecc-4cc5-8e0e-d43e034317a7_1924x1104.webp]] ### Where is dopamine culture taking politics? Some thoughts on - It's not all that new. [[Voters don't read]]. Haven't for awhile yet. - Trump is the perfect candidate for dopamine politics. Pithy, interesting to watch on camera, capable of wry, TikTok ready humor - Biden, shall we say, is not - Most of sub-presidential politics isn't fully dopamine streamed (partly why we're still capable of sending normal people to Congress or a Governorship) - The Presidential electorate will be most susceptible; because it isn't downstream from culture, it is culture. - Swing voters vote their cultural and consumer preferences ### What might practitioners do amidst it? 1. Don't turn the act of voting into an expression of the next dopamine hit. Needs to stay a focused activity.