Dad Tired Detoxing Dopamine: Why Your Soul Is Addicted to Cheap Joy
Jan 26, 2026
They unpack how modern pleasures like scrolling, porn, sugar, and streaming flood the brain with cheap dopamine. Stories and analogies show how those quick hits make prayer, marriage, and meaningful work feel dull. Practical ideas include a weeklong dopamine reset and rhythms to retrain desires toward deeper, more lasting joy.
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Cheap Dopamine Exhausts The Soul
- Modern life delivers constant, cheap dopamine that overstimulates and exhausts the soul.
- Jerrad Lopes argues this overstimulation makes natural, meaningful joys feel boring and flat.
Scavenger Hunt vs. Free Ice Cream
- Jerrad tells a scavenger-hunt-at-the-park story interrupted by a creepy ice-cream vendor.
- The kids prefer free ice cream and the scavenger-hunt joy gets ruined, illustrating instant-gratification harm.
Dopamine Rewards Meaningful Pursuit
- Dopamine existed to reward pursuit and relational, embodied goods like work, worship, and family.
- Those natural dopamine sources point back to God's design and provide deep, lasting joy.