A TikTok I saw on my phone today reminded me to complete an ongoing quest in Fortnite. Something about the urgency and adrenaline of the guy talking made me instantly open the game and start playing. Two hours later, I felt drained of all energy. I felt as if I had just wasted all this time in a way that didn’t sit right with me in hindsight. I was determined to reclaim my focus. With a page long to-do list,, I knew I couldn’t afford to spend more time on the console.
I instantly started to look up ways to reset my dopamine levels. Not long after, my feed was flooded with neatly packaged guides on biohacking routines. Each of these things was promising a fast-track path to mental clarity.
I had my doubts; how much of this was actually legitimate?
The current generation has a tendency to convert all the knowledge they consume into ‘aesthetic’ trends, be it music, memes, or even science. For Gen-Z, science is not relevant in its traditional sense, about facts and figures. Instead, it is about branding a lifestyle.
Instead of passively consuming the latest scientific advancements, they immediately integrate it into their everyday lives. They track their sleep cycles and monitor dopamine levels, techniques rooted in neuroscience to optimise focus. In this constant pursuit of self-improvement, they continue to blur the line between science and self-branding.
The question here is, is this movement really promoting an improvement in living standards? Or has science simply become yet another curated aesthetic for the digital age?
Social media creators have the reach and abilities today that no researcher could have imagined possible. If an influencer with thousands of followers creates a visually appealing infographic on neurotransmitters or a 30 second Instagram reel on circadian rhythms, it is bound to get more traction than any traditional academic source ever could. This shift has caused personal optimisation to turn into an almost performative act.
I’ve heard that a concept called dopamine detoxing is in trend. Although it stems from neurological research surrounding stimulation and the way it affects brain pathways and reward systems, it has been rebranded into a minimalist challenge online: a day with a perfectly balanced diet or without social media, often accompanied by someone recording their long morning walk with a matcha latte. What was supposed to be a scientific idea, meant for ameliorating an individual’s overall well-being, has turned itself into an aesthetic experience, intended more to appear optimised than actually being optimised.
Gen-Z’s relationship with optimisation trends is deeply rooted in neuroscience and data. Applications that are used to track sleep cycles and focus times are no longer just tools for productivity, they have become status symbols. It’s a flex to have a sleep score of 90+ or maintain a flawless Notion productivity tracker. Even the idea of “monk mode,” which is meant to encourage deep focus by eliminating all distractions is aestheticized by minimalist desk spaces and pomodoro clocks.
This scientific approach to wellness has become more about identity than better performance. A person’s optimisation routine is curated at every step, from morning routines with ice baths and red light therapy, to night routines consisting of blue-light blocking glasses and magnesium pills.
Science is no longer used to just inform lifestyle choices, it's becoming the lifestyle itself.
Yet, the line between strategies that are backed by science and self-imposed pressure is thin, and it is getting increasingly blurred. Constantly pushing for self-optimisation has turned even the act of relaxation into a measurable task. Rest is no longer just for the purpose of unwinding; it’s about tracking REM phases and ensuring that recovery levels are maximised. Instead of helping people, it has only reinforced the idea that every moment must be productive, creating a vicious loop where leisure must serve a purpose to occur.
While making science trendy does have its benefits – spreading awareness to mental health and physical well-being – it does not come without its pitfalls. Oversimplifying or misinterpreting scientific research spreads misinformation. Trends have a tendency to morph science into pseudoscience. For instance, while ‘dopamine detoxes’ make sense in theory, the brain does not require a full ‘reset.’
Moreover, the pressure to constantly ‘self-optimise’ can often get overwhelming. If every part of life is reduced to a set of metrics, where does the rest fit in? Hustle culture may have been rebranded to have a scientific twist, but the expectation to always be optimising yourself can get exhausting.
While the areas of science and aestheticization have muddled together, it cannot be denied that Gen-Z has had a major hand in sparking curiosity about topics that were once confined to academia, by making them more accessible and engaging. The challenge in the present time is to ensure that these trends are rooted in credible science. That means being more critical of the content we consume and acknowledging that improving oneself doesn’t always have to be aesthetic or measurable.
Science is a tool for better living, not a fleeting trend.
In the meantime, I might just take my own device and log off for the night. After all, my sleep tracker says I need to optimise my circadian rhythm.
1 Cleveland Clinic. (2025, March 6). Dopamine detoxes don’t work: Here’s what to do instead. Source Link
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