It’s ‘digital heroin’: How screens turn kids into psychotic junkies

jazz lady

~*~ Rara Avis ~*~
PREMO Member
We now know that those iPads, smartphones and Xboxes are a form of digital drug. Recent brain imaging research is showing that they affect the brain’s frontal cortex — which controls executive functioning, including impulse control — in exactly the same way that cocaine does. Technology is so hyper-arousing that it raises dopamine levels — the feel-good neurotransmitter most involved in the addiction dynamic — as much as sex.

This addictive effect is why Dr. Peter Whybrow, director of neuroscience at UCLA, calls screens “electronic cocaine” and Chinese researchers call them “digital heroin.” In fact, Dr. Andrew Doan, the head of addiction research for the Pentagon and the US Navy — who has been researching video game addiction — calls video games and screen technologies “digital pharmakeia” (Greek for drug).

That’s right — your kid’s brain on Minecraft looks like a brain on drugs. No wonder we have a hard time peeling kids from their screens and find our little ones agitated when their screen time is interrupted. In addition, hundreds of clinical studies show that screens increase depression, anxiety and aggression and can even lead to psychotic-like features where the video gamer loses touch with reality.

http://nypost.com/2016/08/27/its-digital-heroin-how-screens-turn-kids-into-psychotic-junkies/
 

Kev_Russell

New Member
"Dr. Nicholas Kardaras is executive director of The Dunes East Hampton, one of the country’s top rehabs and a former clinical professor at Stony Brook Medicine. His book “Glow Kids: How Screen Addiction Is Hijacking Our Kids — and How to Break the Trance” (St. Martin’s) is out now."

They should really put this at the beginning of the "article" to give a heads-up straight away that it's really just a crummy commercial, to quote Ralphie.

Hopefully this warning can save others from the pain of having to read this piece of crap advertisement from a piece of crap "media" outlet.
 

vraiblonde

Board Mommy
PREMO Member
Patron
"Dr. Nicholas Kardaras is executive director of The Dunes East Hampton, one of the country’s top rehabs and a former clinical professor at Stony Brook Medicine. His book “Glow Kids: How Screen Addiction Is Hijacking Our Kids — and How to Break the Trance” (St. Martin’s) is out now."

They should really put this at the beginning of the "article" to give a heads-up straight away that it's really just a crummy commercial, to quote Ralphie.

Hopefully this warning can save others from the pain of having to read this piece of crap advertisement from a piece of crap "media" outlet.

Thank you. It's aggravating to read through a story and go, "Wow!" only to find out that it's some guy shilling a book or some other "solution".
 

mAlice

professional daydreamer
Thank you. It's aggravating to read through a story and go, "Wow!" only to find out that it's some guy shilling a book or some other "solution".

Oh, yeah. Let's just throw the research out the window because some doctor wrote a book about it, and God forbid, he'll make money on it.

We cannot deny that some of our modern technology has become an addiction. From the invention of the television, to the cell phone. These are things that we have had to put limits on with our kids. When I was growing up, I was allowed to watch an hour of tv a night, 2 hours a night on weekends. I was allowed to watch cartoons on Saturday morning until my mother chased me out of the house. Had I been allowed to, I would have watched tv all day on Saturday. I would have stayed up late watching tv weeknights, when I had to get up for school the next day.

As a mother, I found that I needed to apply similar restrictions in our home. First it was just television. Then along came Nintendo. I didn't buy it, my husband did. I told him I didn't care if he bought it, but I wasn't interested. Guess who started spending the majority of her morning playing Super Mario Bros, and not getting the laundry done? I digress. Parents set limits on these things because we understand that it takes away from more important things. We also understand that if you don't put limits on it, then it can become a problem, and for many people, it has.

We hear jokes and watch movies and YT spoofs on kids and young adults who spend most of their waking hours in front of some electronic device. Computer, video game, cell phone. We now have something called "gaming", because it's "that big". I truly believe that there are people in the world who cannot, or choose not to, control the amount of time spent on the computer, video game, or cell phone. To simply discard an idea because someone is making money from writing about it falls short of logical reasoning.

Am I going to rush out and buy the book? I have no plans to, but that doesn't mean it won't show up in my library some day. There are thousands of books written by people who have done the research, who have performed the jobs, that the rest of us read about. That's why we build bookshelves in our homes. Because we want to be informed.

If you don't like the person who wrote the book, fine. Don't buy the book. But don't throw the whole subject out the window as if it has no merit at all. Because it does.
 

Chris0nllyn

Well-Known Member
I recently watched a Ted Talk on a similar subject. I thought it was pretty good.

[video=youtube;3E7hkPZ-HTk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3E7hkPZ-HTk[/video]
 

vraiblonde

Board Mommy
PREMO Member
Patron
Oh, yeah. Let's just throw the research out the window because some doctor wrote a book about it, and God forbid, he'll make money on it.

When the whole story is a lead in to them trying to sell you something, that's a shill. I'm open to research, just not clickbait advertising.
 

mAlice

professional daydreamer
When the whole story is a lead in to them trying to sell you something, that's a shill. I'm open to research, just not clickbait advertising.

your words
read through a story and go, "Wow!"

this is how we usually find things to "purchase". whether it's for our entertainment (movie trailers), education (book reviews), places to vacation (theme park reviews).... If somebody doesn't advertise, it will take us longer to find it, stumble on it, or we may never see it at all.
 

b23hqb

Well-Known Member
PREMO Member
Just have to face the facts that there are a whole bunch - a LOT - of electronic addicted, social media invertebrate zombie folk out there, both adults and minors, and they did it all by themselves. Self-help advice is out there for just about anything, and it usually evolves around lots of data.
 

Kev_Russell

New Member
Oh, yeah. Let's just throw the research out the window because some doctor wrote a book about it, and God forbid, he'll make money on it.

We cannot deny that some of our modern technology has become an addiction. From the invention of the television, to the cell phone. These are things that we have had to put limits on with our kids. When I was growing up, I was allowed to watch an hour of tv a night, 2 hours a night on weekends. I was allowed to watch cartoons on Saturday morning until my mother chased me out of the house. Had I been allowed to, I would have watched tv all day on Saturday. I would have stayed up late watching tv weeknights, when I had to get up for school the next day.

As a mother, I found that I needed to apply similar restrictions in our home. First it was just television. Then along came Nintendo. I didn't buy it, my husband did. I told him I didn't care if he bought it, but I wasn't interested. Guess who started spending the majority of her morning playing Super Mario Bros, and not getting the laundry done? I digress. Parents set limits on these things because we understand that it takes away from more important things. We also understand that if you don't put limits on it, then it can become a problem, and for many people, it has.

We hear jokes and watch movies and YT spoofs on kids and young adults who spend most of their waking hours in front of some electronic device. Computer, video game, cell phone. We now have something called "gaming", because it's "that big". I truly believe that there are people in the world who cannot, or choose not to, control the amount of time spent on the computer, video game, or cell phone. To simply discard an idea because someone is making money from writing about it falls short of logical reasoning.

Am I going to rush out and buy the book? I have no plans to, but that doesn't mean it won't show up in my library some day. There are thousands of books written by people who have done the research, who have performed the jobs, that the rest of us read about. That's why we build bookshelves in our homes. Because we want to be informed.

If you don't like the person who wrote the book, fine. Don't buy the book. But don't throw the whole subject out the window as if it has no merit at all. Because it does.

The vast majority of research that is any good (read: peer reviewed) will be found in academic and professional journals, not on a bookshelf at Barnes & Noble.

This guy is a shill looking to make a buck. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but caveat emptor applies.
 

jazz lady

~*~ Rara Avis ~*~
PREMO Member
Oh, yeah. Let's just throw the research out the window because some doctor wrote a book about it, and God forbid, he'll make money on it.

We cannot deny that some of our modern technology has become an addiction. From the invention of the television, to the cell phone. These are things that we have had to put limits on with our kids. When I was growing up, I was allowed to watch an hour of tv a night, 2 hours a night on weekends. I was allowed to watch cartoons on Saturday morning until my mother chased me out of the house. Had I been allowed to, I would have watched tv all day on Saturday. I would have stayed up late watching tv weeknights, when I had to get up for school the next day.

As a mother, I found that I needed to apply similar restrictions in our home. First it was just television. Then along came Nintendo. I didn't buy it, my husband did. I told him I didn't care if he bought it, but I wasn't interested. Guess who started spending the majority of her morning playing Super Mario Bros, and not getting the laundry done? I digress. Parents set limits on these things because we understand that it takes away from more important things. We also understand that if you don't put limits on it, then it can become a problem, and for many people, it has.

We hear jokes and watch movies and YT spoofs on kids and young adults who spend most of their waking hours in front of some electronic device. Computer, video game, cell phone. We now have something called "gaming", because it's "that big". I truly believe that there are people in the world who cannot, or choose not to, control the amount of time spent on the computer, video game, or cell phone. To simply discard an idea because someone is making money from writing about it falls short of logical reasoning.

Am I going to rush out and buy the book? I have no plans to, but that doesn't mean it won't show up in my library some day. There are thousands of books written by people who have done the research, who have performed the jobs, that the rest of us read about. That's why we build bookshelves in our homes. Because we want to be informed.

If you don't like the person who wrote the book, fine. Don't buy the book. But don't throw the whole subject out the window as if it has no merit at all. Because it does.

Thank you and exactly why I posted the article. I have no plans on buying the book and pretty much ignored that part but the information is thought-provoking and the subject interesting. In my everyday life, I see so many kids AND adults absolutely out-of-touch with reality as their world revolves around their electronic gadgets and they are as addicted to them as any drug.

Don't like that article? How about one of these on technology addiction:

http://www.gamesandlearning.org/2017/01/05/technology-addiction-tops-parents-concerns-in-new-survey/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...ent-on-your-phone_us_5888d440e4b0b481c76c4a7c

http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/03/health/teens-cell-phone-addiction-parents/


This is a good and well researched report:

https://www.commonsensemedia.org/si...hnology_addiction_executive_summary_red_0.pdf


How about a video?

https://www.facebook.com/TheGoodLordAbove/videos/10154249463183059/

Do your own research as I have. Technology can be a great tool if used wisely but it can also lead to tons of problem behaviors. The key is finding a balance and using technology in a healthy and productive way.
 

jazz lady

~*~ Rara Avis ~*~
PREMO Member
When the whole story is a lead in to them trying to sell you something, that's a shill. I'm open to research, just not clickbait advertising.

Ironic, considering how much click-bait advertising is on this site and is used to pay the bills. :lol:
 
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