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4 Magazines Delivered to Your Door

The Internet Has Invented Fake Online Shopping, and There’s a Wild Reason Why People Love It

‘Dopamine sites’ let you pretend to buy products or order takeout, offering the familiar thrill of clicking without spending real money.

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In July 2025, I wrote about how a former Google and Facebook marketing executive wanted to help people wean themselves off phone addiction and the siren song of modern tech. He created the Methaphone, a clear, phone-shaped sheet of acrylic you can reach for and tap to your heart’s content instead of tapping an actual phone to get bombarded with the dopamine hits you’re looking for.

Last week, the New York Times presented a different twist on the same idea: dopamine sites, or websites equipped with all the bells and whistles of modern dopamine-delivering internet interaction, except they don’t actually do anything.

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