A woman recently went viral for explaining a theory behind why people doom scroll for hours or binge junk food. She’s calling it the Dorito Theory, and it captures why we engage with products that leave their users unsatisfied.
TikToker Celeste Aria (@celeste.aria_) gained over 709,000 views when she philosophically broke down why people may be addicted to unsatisfying things.
Lying down, Aria explained the theory to her audience. “One thing I can’t stop thinking about is called the Dorito Theory,” she said. “I learned about this, and now I see everything a little bit differently. The idea is that only experiences that aren’t truly satisfying are maximally addictive. Imagine eating Doritos. When you eat a Dorito and finish a bite, you’re not fully satisfied.”
“It’s not the same as eating a steak or eating a really satiating food that’s high in protein,” she continued. “And after your bite, you really feel that sort of fullness and that warmth of satisfaction. Eating potato chips is addictive because the peak of the experience is kind of when you’re tasting it and not after. There’s kind of nothing that exists once the experience is done, and the experience itself is not satisfying in the end. The moment of having is the satisfying part.”
Aria proceeded to explain how many aspects of our lives could fall under this category. This includes the “infinite scroll on TikTok” or any behavior where “you’re never satisfied,” she said. She called on viewers to identify their own unsatisfying repeated behaviors and to be mindful of them in an effort to minimize them in their lives.
@celeste.aria_ Have you heard of Dorito Theory? What types of things and experiences falls under it for you? #doritotheory #dopamine #addictivebehaviour #howtostoprotting #rottingtiktok #impulsivebehaviour #howtousetiktokless #howtoeathealthy #howtomotivateyourself #howtoimprove #thoughtexperiment #serotonin #mentalhealth #neuroscience #neurodivergent #adhd ♬ original sound – Celeste Aria
Commenters loved her philosophical outlook, with many adding thoughts of their own.
“People addicted to slot machines have the highest dopamine levels when it is spinning, not winning OR losing,” one said.
“Theres a line in a picture of dorian gray that says smthg along the lines of ‘i love a cigarette it leaves one so unsatisfied’ n i think of it daily,” a second shared.
“Someone said if it’s bad for you, you feel great during but feel worse afterwards,” a third opined.
Others were thankful for her video, explaining that she made their scrolling worthwhile. “This is a unique tik tok video that is more like a steak than a dorito,” one viewer wrote. “I feel I learned something and now I’m actually satisfied and don’t need to keep scrolling.”
Addiction comes in many forms, but it’s all due to a naturally produced chemical called dopamine, according to Live Science. Dopamine is a molecule that stimulates the reward center of our brains. Addictive behaviors cause dopamine surges, which forces your brain to adapt, leading neurons to produce less dopamine. Ultimately, the imbalance forces people to repeat the addictive behavior to bring their dopamine levels back to normal, the site states.
Though Celeste discussed addiction as a wide-ranging phenomenon, she may be referencing the book The Dorito Effect by Mark Schatzker. In the book, Schatzker explained how mass production and lab-produced flavoring created the obesity epidemic by reprogramming how much we eat and what we crave.
The Daily Dot reached out to Celeste via TikTok comments for further comment.
