The Analogue Knitter, And The Dopamine Fast.

The Joy Of Going Analogue

“The Dopamine Fast” became a fad in Silicon Valley way back in the late 20-teens, after Californian Psychiatrist, Dr Cameron Sepah, created the catch phrase that highlighted our addiction to feel-better-quick-fixes. The concept has been misunderstood (you cannot fast from a natural brain chemical response), and the core tenet has been lost; that we should practice mindfulness regularly, get out in nature more, connect with people around us, and get off our freaking screens. But what (I hear you ask), has this got to do with knitting? Well, this week I was called ‘The Analogue Knitter’ by someone on Instagram, and it got me thinking. 

Back in 2022, Lenstore Hub published an article claiming that the average person in the UK scrolls the length of the Eiffel Tower each day, and in December 2024 The Guardian wrote about how doom-scrolling is shrinking our grey matter. In the Journal of Integrative Neuroscience (2022), a peer reviewed research paper linked screen time in the early years of brain development to early onset dementia. You get the point… screens aren’t great, and it is understandable that the idea of a “Digital Detox”, or “Dopamine Fast”, can sound very appealing, especially when it’s whipped up on Tick-Tock and the science is left to fester in the backwaters of academia. Why would we want to understand brain chemistry when the platforms we get our news from prefer us to have an attention span that is smaller than a goldfish (or is that also a myth?!).

A Creative Brian

Dopamine is often named ‘The Pleasure Hormone’, as we feel it when we get a jolt of pleasure from something; this reward loop keeps us doing something that makes us feel great. The irony of this hormone based neurotransmitter is that it can increase both when we use our phones too much, or meditate. 

There is little doubt that integrating mindfulness into our day-to-day activities is a better use of dopamine than wearing out our thumb pads as we scroll on our phones, and it won’t rot our brains as it increases grey matter instead of diminishing it. All of this is why, as a knitter, I have chosen to step away from screens when I knit. 

I have turned off all the notifications, and my ring tone is on silent, to the point where my brothers joke that lighting the beacons of Gondor would get my attention quicker than a WhatsApp message. But I am human and live with a phone, and so I know all too well how easy it is for me to pick up my device and swipe my way through an hour of my life; that block of plastic and rare earth minerals is just too tempting. However, my knitting makes me feel better. 

I am an analogue knitter and proud of it! I do not use Ravelry, Knit Companion, or a row tracker app. I purchase patterns through the designers' websites that I follow on Instagram, or I ask my local yarn shops to email the patterns if they are only on Ravelry (which supports our LYSs in the process), and I print them off, meaning I follow paper patterns. The reasons I do this are personal to me, but I hope that they spark some food for thought for you too. 

Less Screens, More Brain.

Our hands and minds are connected.

There are two fantastic bi-products of getting creative (away from a screen) on a regular basis; you calm down whilst your brain thickens up! 

Grey matter in your frontal cortex is stimulated when you create, and it has been shown that when you do it regularly that area of the brain ‘thickens’ (a bit like growing muscles getting stronger). The same is true for the hippocampus part of your brain, where memory and learning happen. These areas love knitting, especially when we challenge ourselves with new techniques, patterns, maths, problems to solve, and colour! It’s like a mental gym session as our brains love working things out and succeeding, which gives us the dopamine hit that keeps us coming back for more. (It’s pretty cool, really!)

Knitting also helps us calm down and feel better when we are feeling low (apart from when we are doing Italian bind-offs or frogging a whole sweater). Our breathing and heart rate drop to a steady, calm state, and the rhythmic, repetitive movement allows us to mindfully become present so that we can tune into a less chaotic thought process, with many saying that it helps to lift them out of depression.

For me, myself, and I, the idea that my brain can come to a quiet spot whilst I listen to gentle music of an audiobook whilst I knit is a wonderful way to spend my evenings. My stress is reduced, I am able to let my brain work away at things I need to process, and there is very little I need to worry about whilst I am enjoying my time with Finchley next to me on the sofa. The fact I get a thicker brain (in the best possible way!!) is a total bonus. 

People Power.

Cozy knitting at the pub with friends.

I love Instagram! It is the only social media I have, and it’s where I meet wonderful gentlefolk of the knitting community, see fresh inspiration, and generally have a grand old time sending anti-Trump and hobbit videos to my mates. However, you will never hear me say that it is better to be on the app than knitting with people. 

I knit with friends three or four times a week here in Falmouth; either at the pub with non-knitters, at the bookshop café with other makers, or at my regular knit-group on a Tuesday. (Last night, I even took my knitting to a sewing group I go to so that I could finish a sleeve!) Building a community through, and with, my knitting is the most precious part of my life. Indeed, The Knitted Wardrobe has changed my life, enabling me to step away from a career that was killing me slowly through diagnosed burn-out. 

Knitting will build your circle of friends and help combat the sense of loneliness that is becoming an epidemic in the western world. The connection with people in your local area is the healthiest part of being human; we need each other.

Peace On Paper

Books will always be part of my life.

For me, the whole point of knitting is to gain a sense of peace. Peace is hard fought for, and is taken easily, and my screens are the silent attackers. 

Reading is another quirky way to get the results of brain thickening through dopamine hits. I read paper books, rather than screens that tell me what percentage of the way through I am, or notify me when I haven’t read in three days. My books just sit there waiting for my attention and my old ticket stubs act as pretty good visual markers of how far I have until I finish the book.

Writing… it’s the same. More paper, more peace, slower breathing, slower heart rate, higher dopamine hits, thicker brain. 

So why would I have a screen on when I am knitting? Of course I print my patterns out, tally my rows and doodle on the edges, and then fold them into my project bags to spill coffee on them later on at the bookshop. 

Ravelry gave me panic attacks. 

All-the-things on all-the-needles.

My relationship with Ravelry needs a bit of explaining, and it is not an overly dramatic statement to say that it gave me panic attacks. 

I first logged on to Ravelry around 2014, and at first I thought it was the best thing to ever happen to knitting! However, I realised after a few years that I’d purchase patterns that I would never knit, and  I felt pressure from all the groups as well as the never ending ques of projects and stash. There were days when I felt bad for not knitting because I had projects that were backing up, which was the antithesis of why I started knitting. I looked in my closet and realised that I had lost my own sense of style, as I was only looking at the popular patterns that came up on the first page and knitting them for my older blogs and Instagram pages. Over the years, I realised that Ravelry was slowly eroding my love for knitting, as I felt as if I was knitting just to keep up with everyone else, rather than knitting for the pleasure of it.

Eventually I came off Ravelry when I realised that it is designed to keep you on the site, and companies only create platforms like that to make more money. If something is free to use, you are the one that is being used.

My Dopamine Fix

It’s pretty obvious that I am a dopamine chaser, just not in the way the tech companies want me to experience it. I love getting some regular dopamine fixes through my knitting, and I get a nerdy kick out of the fact that my brain is getting ticker and juicier every time I do it! 

I am fascinated that the simple act of knitting without a screen, or a Ravelry account, made someone want to label me as an analogue knitter. 

I know what my brain likes; PEACE. That doesn’t make me any better than anyone else, it just means I know how I roll. Neither does it mean that I live a low dopamine lifestyle, it means that I have found a healthy, constantly high, dopamine lifestyle based on mindfulness, creativity, and human connection.

I would encourage you to go down the rabbit hole and read the science on how our brains work, how our bodies react to different stimuli, and what is actually healthy. Dopamine is healthy, we just need to get it in better ways than scrolling on apps that are built to make us more addicted than heroin addicts. 

Until next time, may your needles bring you joy and your frogging be rare. 

Love, Jenny x