If you’re a work-from-home parent like me, you probably already know this feeling:
You sit down to finish something important… and suddenly your phone buzzes. Then another ping. Then you think, Maybe I’ll just check Instagram real quick. And before you know it, 20 minutes disappear into reels, Amazon carts, or random rabbit holes you don’t even remember clicking on.
Yep. Same.
In this episode of In A Jam podcast, Rowell and I finally sat down to talk about something we’ve both been struggling with but never really said out loud: dopamine overload—and how a simple dopamine detox can actually help parents reset their brains.
But let me tell you the moment that pushed me over the edge.
🎧 Listen to the full conversation on my podcast, In A Jam, now streaming on Spotify.
The Story That Made Me Realize I Needed a Dopamine Detox
One afternoon, I was “working.”
And by working, I mean: my laptop was open, Slack was blinking, and my phone was lighting up with notifications like it was possessed. My son walked into the room holding a drawing he made. He was so excited.
“Mom, look!”
I glanced for maybe half a second. “Wow, that’s nice!”
…without actually seeing anything.
He stood there.
Waiting.
Still holding the drawing.
Then he said, “You didn’t really look.”
And he was right.
I didn’t.
Not because I didn’t care—but because my brain felt like it was being pulled in 16 directions at once. It was like my attention span had the consistency of confetti.
When I told Rowell about it, he nodded so hard I thought his neck would snap. He said he had the same thing happen—his kids tugging at him while he was doom-scrolling, and he didn’t even notice until they tapped his face.
That’s when we knew:
Okay. Something’s off. We need to talk about this.
Wait—What Even Is Dopamine?
If you’re imagining some complicated scientific term, don’t worry. We broke it down in the episode like normal humans.
Dopamine is basically the brain’s “motivation and reward” chemical.
It’s the tiny hit of “yay!” you get when someone likes your post, you buy something online, or you stumble into a funny reel.
But here’s the catch:
Too much dopamine =
you get numb.
you get distracted.
you lose focus.
you chase the next hit before even finishing what you started.
Parents?
We are PRIME targets for dopamine overload because our entire world is a mix of work tasks, parenting cues, home responsibilities, and notifications trying to hijack our attention.
So What’s a Dopamine Detox (And Does It Mean Living in the Woods)?
Nope.
A dopamine detox doesn’t mean disappearing from social media forever or throwing your phone in the river.
It simply means giving your brain a break from unnatural high-dopamine hits so you can reset your baseline. In the podcast, we talked about small steps—things we’re actually trying—that don’t feel like punishment.
Here are a few:
- Activating grayscale on your phone when it’s bedtime
- Putting your phone in “Do Not Disturb” mode
- Turning off non-essential notifications (yes, you really don’t need them all)
- Doing one “boring” task intentionally—like folding laundry without a podcast
- Replacing scrolling with something grounding: meditation, journaling, going out for a walk
It’s not about being perfect.
It’s about noticing when your brain is overloaded and choosing to breathe instead of scroll.
If You’re a Parent Feeling Scattered, This One’s for You
We didn’t record this episode because we’re experts.
We recorded it because we’re parents who got stuck in the same tech-driven jam—and wanted to figure out how to climb out together.
If you’ve been feeling:
- unfocused
- overstimulated
- restless
- constantly checking your phone
- guilty for being distracted around your kids
…you’re not alone.
And a dopamine detox might be the small reset your brain has been asking for.
If you like our conversations, subscribe to In A Jam podcast