"Research shows that tech screen time and technology dependence is bad for our kids. The overuse of technology can lead to long-term addictions, hence, tech dependence can ultimately damage the mind and body just like alcohol, cocaine, or heroin.
This is bad news in a nation where teens consume an average of nine hours of media a day and 50 percent of teens feel they are addicted to their smartphones.
Technology Dependence and Its Effects on the Nervous System
We’ve known for 20 years that screen time increases dopamine levels.
According to a 1998 study, M. J. Koepp showed that video gaming upped dopamine in the body as much as sex does, about 100 percent.
More recently, researchers find that the use of social media increases the release of endorphins as well. California State University psychology professor Delinah Hurwitz says her study suggests that people become hooked on Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking websites. As a result, endorphins rush through their brain and body every time someone responds to their post. Hence, this constant overstimulation shifts the nervous system into fight-or-flight mode, which disturbs the biological and hormonal systems. Thus, it can lead to disorders such as ADHD, teen depression, oppositional defiant disorder and anxiety even worse.
Trauma, Technology Dependence, and Teen Treatment
Doctors and researchers aren’t clear on whether or not teen depression stems from too much “tech time” or if they are utilizing screen use as a form of escapism? Perhaps it is neither, which forces us to explore the question of: Could possibly both the depression and the overuse of technology stem from underlying issues?
Indeed, Nicholas Kardaras details such technology dependence in his new book, Glow Kids: How Screen Addiction Is Hijacking Our Kids—and How to Break the Trance. Kardaras writes that addiction is “less about the particular substance or behavior than about the underlying perfect storm of genetic, psychological, environmental and neurobiological factors that make a person ripe for addiction.” In the case of tech dependence, kids who are isolated and in pain are particularly vulnerable to onscreen experiences that help them feel a sense of escape and connection. As Kardaras writes, those children may be more drawn to other addictive substances “once they taste digital drugs.”
As detailed by Nicholas Kardaras, these new “digital drugs” are truly dangerous. However, many parents downplay a teen’s obsessive behavior in regard to gaming consoles and mobile devices. Still, such tech dependence engenders a taste for immediate gratification. Indeed, tech dependence isolates the adolescent from real-life social interactions. Such isolation by “digital drugs” affects the neurochemistry of the teen brain. Hence, tech dependence reduces an adolescent’s already vulnerable resistance to addictive substances."
Check-out the next blog post to learn about what you can do as a parent.
Source: Newport Academy