Dopamine Fasting 101: How to Reset Your Brain in a Hyper-Connected World

    Deeply Personal Current: Dopamine Fasting 101 Zero Waste on a Budget All Posts Next Dopamine Fasting 101: How to Reset Your Brain in a Hyper-Connected World My wife and I were sitting on the couch the other night, supposedly “relaxing” after dinner. ...

    February 21, 2025 · 10 min · Rafiul Alam

    Social Comparison Theory: The Instagram Depression Link

    I deleted Twitter from my phone last Tuesday. Not because of the politics or the drama. Because I couldn’t stop comparing myself to people who seemed to be crushing it while I was struggling. Every time I opened the app: Someone raised a $50M Series B Someone hit $100K MRR on their SaaS Someone gave a keynote at a major conference Someone got acquired by Google Meanwhile, my startup was barely break-even, my side project had 47 users, and I’d just had a PR rejected for the third time. ...

    May 6, 2024 · 16 min · Rafiul Alam

    Confirmation Bias in the Age of Social Media: Why We Only See What We Want to See

    I used to think Tailwind CSS was terrible. Not because I’d used it extensively. I’d tried it for maybe an hour, felt uncomfortable, and decided it was “just inline styles with extra steps.” Then I spent the next six months seeing only evidence that confirmed my belief: Blog posts criticizing Tailwind? Bookmarked and shared. Tweets praising Tailwind? Scrolled past or found reasons to dismiss them. Projects struggling with Tailwind? “See, I knew it was problematic!” Projects thriving with Tailwind? “They would’ve been fine with CSS modules.” I wasn’t evaluating Tailwind objectively. I was collecting ammunition to defend a conclusion I’d already made. ...

    January 17, 2024 · 14 min · Rafiul Alam