Ah, Doritos. Is there anything they can't do?
They're a fun snack in the middle of the night. You can smash them up and put them on a sandwich. You can even light one with a match and start a campfire. (Seriously.)
And they can serve as an emotional gauge to tell you to stop certain behaviors because they're an emotional dead-end.
Snack food, survival tool, and life coach. I'd like to see a bag of sour cream and onion potato chips do that.
For the record, sour cream and onion chips are the devil and only bring destruction and misery wherever they go.
There's a new theory being shared on TikTok by Celeste Aria, who said Doritos are the perfect analogy for the unsatisfying things in life.
Think about when you bite into your favorite chip, which is a Dorito and definitely not sour cream and onion. The enjoyable moment happens when we get that dopamine hit — the reward hormone that's released in our brain when we eat.
Sour cream and onion chips release cortisol, which causes physical and emotional distress.
But, the enjoyable moment only happens as we eat the Dorito, not afterward. In fact, you want another one. And you get another dopamine hit, so you eat another, and so on, until you've gone through the entire bag. But are you satisfied? Not at all. You don't think, "I'm sure glad I ate that entire bag of Doritos. I feel great!"
Instead, you feel sick, like someone put bad gas in your engine, and you want to lie down, clutching your stomach for three days.
But when you're done with a great steak or other nutrient-dense food, you sit back, pat your tummy, and say, "I'm glad I ate that. I'm pleasantly full."
More than 3.2 million people have watched the video and believe it explains their own lives. Because, as Aria said, "(T)he only experiences that aren't truly satisfying are maximally addictive."
Think about it. You sit in front of the TV, flipping channels or scrolling through Netflix. You don't really know what you want to watch. You flip, flip, flip until it's time for bed.
Or you sit in the bathroom and scroll mindlessly through TikTok and Instagram. (Don't lie; we've all done it.)
It's not that we're interested in what friends and strangers are posting, it's that urge to see "What's next? What's next? What's next?"
Even doom scrolling and anger scrolling on social media gives us dopamine hits with every successive flick of the thumb, which is why it's so addictive.
But when you're done, you don't feel smarter or more enlightened. You look up, 30 minutes have passed, and you're depressed and angry. Plus, your legs are so numb you can't stand up.
The Doritos theory explains so much about our habits and relationships.
Think of all the things you do out of habit or because there's nothing better to do.
If you don't experience satisfaction in a particular activity or personal relationship, then why do you continue doing it? Why do you scroll on your phone when you could read a book?
Sure, you don't get the same dopamine hit with every new sentence, but you're more satisfied and smarter when you finish the book.
Or what about a relationship that you stay in out of habit or because it's just easier? You might be more satisfied with someone else, but the hassle of leaving the unsatisfying and unhealthy relationship to find a new one is too much.
So you stay in the Dorito relationship, flipping emotional TV channels because you're worried you can't find something better.
There's actually some scientific merit to the Doritos theory.
Noted psychologist Dr. Reneé Carr told USA Today, "Not experiencing satiation when engaging in a particular activity or in a relationship can influence you into staying in a situation that is not truly satisfying, not healthy, and not happy."
Instead, said Carr, we experience just enough satisfaction to make us think full satisfaction is possible, except it never comes. But we keep on trying anyway, like continually feeding nickels into a slot machine that never pays out.
Which, as both Aria and Dr. Carr would tell you, means you should identify those Doritos areas in your life and try to avoid them. Cut them out completely and find something rewarding.
Don't eat the whole bag of Doritos, eat something with real nutrients instead.
Limit the amount of time you spend on social media and read a book.
Commit to one show to watch rather than flipping through Netflix's catalog for an hour.
Break up with that person who's not giving you the love and satisfaction you deserve, because you deserve to be happy.
You can never get enough of what you don't need, but cutting it out of your life will make room for the things you should have.
Especially cut out the sour cream and onion chips. Nobody needs that negativity in their life.
Photo credit: PublicDomainPictures (Pixabay, Creative Commons 0)
Photo credit: Pahz (Flickr, Creative Commons 2.0)
My new humor novel, Mackinac Island Nation, is finished and available from 4 Horsemen Publications. You can get the ebook and print versions here.