Being Geek Chic is a blog about one woman navigating the male-dominated industries of production and tech. It's written by Elizabeth Giorgi, Founder, CEO and Director of Mighteor - one of the world's first internet video production companies. Learn more about Mighteor here.
It’s no secret around here that we really love Young Adult Novels with a dystopian twist. And while none of us are young adults, we do have a love of the format. It may be because it harkens back to a time when our brain’s were ripe to absorb it.
Author, Kate Banks, explains:
Just before adolescence the human brain undergoes an enormous growth of axons and dendrites.
During adolescence these bushy neurons are pruned (by genetics and environmental stimuli) as a normal part of the maturation process, forming a roadmap of neural pathways that dictate behavior. Pathways exposed to more stimulation will thrive and grow, while those that are fed less will weaken.
In pathways designed with self-regulating feedback loops, like the dopamine reward system or the stress response system, excess stimulation sets off a neurobiological cascade. Initially, the stimulation causes the neurons in the pathway to release a large amount of neurotransmitters. In order for the message to be sent, these neurotransmitters must cross a synapse, a small space between the branches of the neurons, and find a receptor to which they can bind. If a high level of stimulation continues, the body attempts to rebalance the input and turn down the volume of the signal, by decreasing the receptor sites. This down-regulation of receptors is responsible for the tolerance that develops in feedback loops. It now takes a greater release of neurotransmitters to obtain the same effect.
This dopamine reward circuitry is particularly active during adolescence.
Experiences that are novel, exciting and edgy fill the adolescent with a dopamine derived feeling of euphoria. Because of this increased sensitivity to dopamine, teenagers are drawn to stimulation like bears to honey. And in today’s world there is no lack of stimulation. Technology and innovation have thrust us into a context in which information is being processed by the senses faster than the speed of light, setting off a neurobiological cascade, the consequences of which are reflected in conditions that effect society as a whole – obesity, materialism, anxiety and depression.
So before you head out to Mockingjay this weekend, remember this, your brain was once wired to absolutely LOVE THE HELL OUT OF THIS. Is it really so far fetched to this our brain’s can’t still fall into that neurological cascade? I think not.
You can read Kate’s whole post over at Observation Deck.
My newest dystopian obsession is The Digital Web Series: H+. You guys. This shit is for real. Here’s episode one, but be prepared, because you might not even finish reading this post if you watch it.
Are you still here? I’m impressed. The first time I watched it I immediately engaged in a video binge session that ended way too late at night and only ended when the insides of my eyelids started sticking to my contact lenses.
I remember the first time I finished George Orwell’s 1984. I was curled up in my childhood bed (which had pink blankets - a fact that astounds me today) and I was breathless. My emotions were at level 99 out of 100. I was sad and angry and confused and frustrated and exhilarated and impressed and overwhelmed. I wasn’t used to a single book eliciting so many emotions.
I fell asleep and years passed and the emotions faded, but the fiction stuck. Why did the fiction stick? Because it wasn’t fiction at all. George Orwell wasn’t an author - he was a futurist. A time teller. A psychic.
I love dystopian fiction, because it’s like a warning song about the future that the vast majority of the public is ignoring and I feel like a special mage who can hear the tune above the newest Selena Gomez song.
