Car Tolls

I’ve spent a lot of time driving, which has given me plenty of time to think about how driving has affected my life.

Don’t worry – this isn’t another statement on exercise, pollution, or cost. That’s been covered ad infinitum by many people with more expertise.

Instead, I’m going to share my tinfoil hat theory about how car dependency has made us more addicted to dopamine hits.

Once upon a time you would walk places. And along the journey to reach a store, or your workplace, or the pub, you would be experiencing life. You’d see things that you haven’t seen before, like flowers blooming or store window displays. You’d cross paths with people and talk to them. Maybe you’d even impulsively pop into somewhere you hadn’t planned to go.

Every time you did one of these tiny activities, your brain got a little exercise. Your brain sorted smells, temperature changes, brightness, emotions, and so many other data points that you don’t even think about.

Compare this to driving. You sit inside the same vehicle, not interacting with other people or taking in new sights. Maybe you listen to music or an audiobook for a little stimulation. You park, get out, and your brain has gotten very little exercise.

Think of all the times you drove somewhere and when you arrived you had no memory of actually getting there. You weren’t making memories. Your brain was bored.

But your brain craves activity. So, you give it activity with doomscrolling. It’s a rollercoaster ride of little stimulation to overstimulation. And over time you become reliant on your devices to give you that dopamine hit. You’re not making memories. You’re filling a void.

In the U.S., we have a tendency to talk about cost in terms of value. It costs more to own a car than take mass transit, but constructing mass transit is costly, and the price of land in the countryside is cheaper per acre than in the city.

There’s also a very real human cost, too. And not just quality of life in measurable ways, like obesity rates and crash deaths. We are costing ourselves the experience of life when we close ourselves off in cars.

We might not know it, but our brains certainly do.