Pretending to order takeout? The "self-deceptive" consumption trend has unexpectedly gone viral.

It eases the anxiety of real waiting time, and further releases the sense of satisfaction as the delivery rider gets closer, focusing on keeping all the good parts and discarding the bad parts.

Especially after completing the order, the app will also calculate how many calories of takeout you didn't actually eat, further consolidating the sense of satisfaction.

No wonder once it was launched, it crossed languages and cultures directly, making netizens from many countries feel it is a "perfect cure":

You don't even have to get out of bed to open the door for takeout, and not a penny is deducted from your bank account.

I don't feel that hungry anymore after placing the order, and I don't have to worry about gaining weight, it's so great.

Even if I don't place an order, just browsing these sites cheers me up. At first I thought I was deceiving myself, but after I got immersed in it, it really works a bit.

Fake orders are often calorie bombs

The app developer said in an interview with Korean media: At first, the goal was to let people resist ordering takeout to save money, and turn saving into a game.

The founder also admitted that he used to be a heavy user who couldn't quit ordering takeout, placing more than ten orders a week.

Now, since the app went online, tens of thousands of orders are placed in the backend every week. I don't know if everyone's mood has improved, but if I were the founder, seeing so many people having the same strong urge, I would definitely not feel anxious at all...

As more and more similar platforms emerge, netizens have given them a collective name — "dopamine websites", which is very straightforward: come and visit whenever you want to stimulate your dopamine secretion.

The originator of this type of website, FoodNeverComes, was also developed by Koreans. Its literal translation is very straightforward — "the food will never come".

Compared with the highly realistic dopamine takeout ordering websites, "FoodNeverComes" looks more like the QR code ordering interface in a restaurant. If you can't make a choice, the website can also recommend dishes based on your preference, taking care of even people with decision fatigue.

AI objectively greatly reduces the difficulty of building dopamine websites

This website was even initially built on a whim by a Korean Twitter user with the help of GPT. Now it not only covers cuisines from all over the world, but also supports corresponding recipes for the food you want to order, as well as price conversion in various currencies. Everyone will definitely be "trapped" to order a dish before leaving.

Wait, so this is the dietary therapy you guys are talking about?

There is also a virtual shopping website called FakeHaul, every product on the platform is on discount, with eye-catching -xx% labels, which allows you to immerse yourself better in the virtual shopping environment.

Nothing makes people lose their minds more than shopping spree with discounts.

But don't worry, when your reason takes over your brain again, you won't find your wallet has been emptied.

You can even blow smoke rings

If all kinds of virtual shopping experiences are still within expectations, then more niche dopamine websites can only be described as bizarre and abstract.

This is a cyber dopamine smoking room that lets you "smoke online", the website page even shows how many people are smoking together with you at the same time.

Even many non-smoking users want to experience the release of tapping the cigarette ash in cyber space, just double tap your phone screen to finish the action.

While smoking a cyber cigarette, you can also post little snippets of your daily life on the website, "I survived another day" is the most frequently posted sentence by anonymous smokers.

A website full of the vibe of being stuck in boring work

There is also a virtual tirzepatide injection website for "pretending to take weight-loss shots".

The most hilarious part is that after selecting the dose you need, you have to put your phone on your stomach to "inject".

During the injection, your phone will even turn on vibration mode, just enjoy the immersive experience.

I can only say, it is recommended to use it together with the virtual ordering app, smoke while ordering, the pleasure is doubled.

Finally take a shot of weight-loss injection, what a wonderful life you have.

Translation of the platform name: Tirz is not here

A number of imitators have also emerged in European and American countries, various dopamine shopping websites, focusing on buying those exquisite goods that you are reluctant to buy in real life, now you can "purchase" them as much as you want.

China naturally doesn't fall behind. In addition to the previously mentioned localized takeout dopamine websites, there are even more interesting variants.

After we had Taobao in the Chinese server, now "Escape Taobao" has also been launched accordingly.

Is the owner of Escape Taobao Jack Niu?

From the product page to the order page, it perfectly replicates the familiar Taobao we know, but this time, we can just buy with eyes closed, empty the shopping cart without any pain!

The eye-catching slogan "Get it without pain" hits the heart of every person who comes here for a happy experience.

You can even use a consumption simulator of the level of Middle East billionaires, since dopamine shopping is for fun, then you can enjoy it to the fullest this time.

You can "buy" heavy weapons, you can "purchase" the top-floor luxury apartment of Evergrande, if you can "take over" the 2.4 trillion yuan debt package, Mr. Xu will deliver the goods to you in person!

There are also many onlookers coming to offer suggestions:

Why not make a dopamine stock trading software — that's literally a simulated trading account!

Has anyone made a fake Pinduoduo yet?

I need a fake Pop Mart gacha software!

While folk wisdom is bursting, mainstream platforms have also started related attempts.

Douyin also launched "Greedy Cat Takeout" accordingly.

The interface and gameplay are mostly the same, the only obvious difference is that after "payment", the money will be automatically deposited into the platform account. According to the official statement: this money will not flow to merchants, but be saved in the user's "Greedy Cat Piggy Bank", which does not generate interest, but can be withdrawn to Douyin balance at any time.

Sounds very reasonable, right? You can even save the money you would have spent on snacks, how meaningful it is, but the development of the situation is not all praise.

Suddenly realize the truth

Some people criticize that ByteDance wanted to copy that Korean simulated takeout app, but the Korean one doesn't really ask you to pay, its logic is to pretend to make you pay, then tell you how much money you saved and how many calories you didn't intake this meal, Byte just didn't get the point...

Some others pointed out that they are not after your small change, but to further collect user data to provide high-quality data for local life services.

In the past, the algorithm made you hungry and you ordered takeout, but after a short time on the dopamine website, you are pulled back to the real consumption again.

At the end of the day, people don't want complicated things, they just want to be in a good mood, don't force the so-called "user care" into it, it will often backfire.

02: Secretion and Austerity

Then why have a large number of dopamine websites sprung up like mushrooms after rain?

On the one hand, society is getting more and more anxious, and pressure is rising sharply.

On the other hand, consumption is constantly downgrading, and people's wallets are also shrinking.

Humans are not machines, it is impossible not to seek pleasure. Now that consumption is downgrading, the demand for cheap dopamine will inevitably increase, or at least people will choose the option that brings the strongest and most significant dopamine secretion per unit of consumption — in plain language, "get maximum output with minimum input", just enjoy the pleasure.

In fact, these traces are very obvious.

The closest thing to our daily life is the endless emerging "cyber nipple toys".