Why Does Hunting Feel Better Than Instagram?

Bill Thompson says hunting produces a body-level happiness that Instagram scrolling does not. He says an elk taken at 60 yards is a survival feeling built into DNA, and he thinks human reward systems are the strongest source of happiness available right now.

The picture is an elk shot at 60 yards, double lunged, then watched as it tips over. Nothing else matches that. Instagram can still make a person happy while scrolling, and a short laugh is real, but the happiness is temporary and not a body happiness. The same pull shows up in videos of people who survive, in subsistence cultures, and in Naked and Afraid. Bill Thompson's point is the cost of never choosing to eat well, train, hunt, do jiu-jitsu, or earn a degree in something really difficult. Reality then judges a person as fat and old, or as living with no meaning, and anxiety shows up around almost anything. The people who freak out the most are the ones who do nothing difficult. A walk is enough to say the worry will pass.

Bill Thompson says that when his wife feels anxiety, painting, drawing, or building something gets creative work flowing and gives her something complete. He and his wife both work in the tech industry, where software almost never gets finished and the job moves on to the next thing.