Digital Cocaine: Journey Toward Detox and Recovery
Is your child’s behaviour related to screen addiction? Help them journey toward recovery from digital addiction and learn to live again in the real world.
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My husband and I attended a great seminar last week addressing the issue of screen addiction. Before you dismiss this as something that applies to “other” families, hear what Brad Huddleston, screen addiction specialist has to say. We may all like to think that this issue does not apply to us or our children but when we take a step back to see the big picture of how flooded our children’s worlds are with digital technology compared to our own childhoods, the statistics are sobering. 

With the rapid rise in recent years of ADHD, social anxiety, depression and other mental health disorders, it is important that we look at all potential contributing factors. The Digital Cocaine seminar covers all types of digital addiction including TV, gaming, social media, Youtube and pornography.  

The book Digital Cocaine by Brad Huddleston is a must read for every parent no matter how young your children and a must read for every adult who is more at home in the digital world than the real world. While it is imperative that we educate ourselves on the damaging affects of digital addiction in our children, the unsettling truth is that it affects adults just as much as children. 
Every child born from 1981 through to the 21st century is a digital native. While computer games were being invented in the 1950s and 60s, it was the 1980s that largely ushered gaming consoles into the world with video games for the first time found in the majority of homes. 

Clearly, digital technology has rapidly increased over the past few decades and never before have we seen such young children being completely immersed in an alternative reality, often spending more time interacting with screens than with real people. They have not known a society that is not flooded with screens and devices. Even in underdeveloped countries where poverty is rife and food and shelter are sparse, kids are somehow obtaining access to smartphones and devices, even when their most basic needs are not being met. 

Social media is blamed for the epidemic of harmful social comparison, especially in teenagers. However, Huddleston argues that it is not just the comparison to others that is causing anxiety and self-harm behaviours such as cutting but it is the social media addiction itself that is numbing the emotions of our children. Called Anhedonia, it is a condition that renders people incapable of enjoying normal life experiences such as spending time with family and friends. They can exhibit a complete lack of interest in normal daily life and activities that were formerly enjoyable and stimulating.

Screen addiction does not discriminate – it affects every age, nationality, sex, socio-economic status, educational level etc.

This emotional numbness is a result of dopamine addiction where dopamine hits come from technology and no longer from interactions with others. We can attempt to dismiss this as “typical teen behaviour” but it is not. We must call it what it is… addiction; addiction that affects the brain in almost identical fashion to cocaine addiction with the only “cure” being detox and recovery. 

Many children who self-harm, predominantly in the form of cutting are not suicidal, they just want to “feel” something. The endorphins that are released when they cut themselves, dissipate quickly and so this also becomes an addiction and next time they need to cut a little deeper in order to experience the release of “feel good” endorphins. The same vicious cycle of addiction continues, whether you are talking about drugs, screens or self-harm. 

In his presentation, Huddleston emphasises the effects of addiction on a child’s brain. This converges with the lack of impulse control in young people and the fact that they have no brakes to apply to their actions due to their dopamine addiction that keeps them hooked. The brain scans he shows are evidence of the fact that digital addiction atrophies the brain in much the same way as cocaine addiction. 

An article on Huddleston’s website covers the story of a 15-year old South Korean boy who was diagnosed with early onset dementia due to digital addiction. Like never before, our youth are fraught with anxiety, depression and every other type of mental health illness imaginable. While there can clearly be multiple causes for these and a convergence of several factors, the one factor that is common to almost all youth worldwide, regardless of their upbringing, educational attainment, socio-economic status, religion etc, is the digital culture in which they are all immersed. 

Whether you feel this applies to you or not, I emphatically recommend the following two presentations to all parents and grandparents and the following list of books. As parents, we like to think that these challenges do not apply to us but sadly, there are few of us who are able to escape this insurmountable issue. The following videos and books are presented and authored by experts in this important field of digital addiction. 

May you and your children love living life and living it to the full in the real world. 


Resources for your journey toward detox, rehab and recovery from digital addiction.

VIDEOS

Brad Huddleston – Digital Addiction: What the Neuroscience Shows

Brad Huddleston – Technology vs. Intimacy with God

Netflix – The Social Dilemma: Official Trailer

BOOKS

By Brad Huddleston

Digital Cocaine - A Journey Toward iBalance

Digital Cocaine - A Journey Toward This book teaches how digital media impacts the brain and how an individual can protect themselves.

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By Nicholas Kardaras

Dr. Kardaras runs addiction clinics in the U.S. These were initially for drug addicts but due to the rise in the number of screen addicts and the fact that presenting symptoms were very similar, his programs have since opened up to digital addicts also.
Glow Kids: How Screen Addiction Is Hijacking Our Kids - and How to Break the Trance

From addiction expert Dr. Nicholas Kardaras, a startling argument that technology has profoundly affected the brains of children―and not for the better.

We’ve all seen them: kids hypnotically staring at glowing screens in restaurants, in playgrounds and in friends' houses―and the numbers are growing. Like a virtual scourge, the illuminated glowing faces―the Glow Kids―are multiplying. But at what cost? Is this just a harmless indulgence or fad like some sort of digital hula-hoop? Some say that glowing screens might even be good for kids―a form of interactive educational tool.

Don’t believe it.

In Glow Kids, Dr. Nicholas Kardaras will examine how technology―more specifically, age-inappropriate screen tech, with all of its glowing ubiquity―has profoundly affected the brains of an entire generation. Brain imaging research is showing that stimulating glowing screens are as dopaminergic (dopamine activating) to the brain’s pleasure center as sex. And a growing mountain of clinical research correlates screen tech with disorders like ADHD, addiction, anxiety, depression, increased aggression, and even psychosis. Most shocking of all, recent brain imaging studies conclusively show that excessive screen exposure can neurologically damage a young person’s developing brain in the same way that cocaine addiction can.

Kardaras will dive into the sociological, psychological, cultural, and economic factors involved in the global tech epidemic with one major goal: to explore the effect all of our wonderful shiny new technology is having on kids. Glow Kids also includes an opt-out letter and a "quiz" for parents in the back of the book.

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Digital Madness: How Social Media Is Driving Our Mental Health Crisis - and How to Restore Our Sanity

From the author of the provocative and influential Glow Kids, Digital Madness explores how we’ve become mad for our devices as our devices are driving us mad, as revolutionary research reveals technology's damaging effect on mental illness and suicide rates―and offers a way out. Dr. Nicholas Kardaras is at the forefront of psychologists sounding the alarm about the impact of excessive technology on younger brains. In Glow Kids, he described what screen time does to children, calling it “digital heroin”. Now, in Digital Madness, Dr. Kardaras turns his attention to our teens and young adults and looks at the mental health impact of tech addiction and corrosive social media.

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More great books for digital detox, rehab and recovery!

Reset Your Child's Brain:

A Four-Week Plan to End Meltdowns, Raise Grades, and Boost Social Skills by Reversing the Effects of Electronic Screen-Time.

A no-cost, nonpharmaceutical treatment plan for children with behavioral and mental health challenges

Increasing numbers of parents grapple with children who are acting out without obvious reason. Revved up and irritable, many of these children are diagnosed with ADHD, bipolar illness, autism, or other disorders but don’t respond well to treatment. They are then medicated, often with poor results and unwanted side effects. Based on emerging scientific research and extensive clinical experience, integrative child psychiatrist Dr. Victoria Dunckley has pioneered a four-week program to treat the frequent underlying cause, Electronic Screen Syndrome (ESS).

Dr. Dunckley has found that everyday use of interactive screen devices — such as computers, video games, smartphones, and tablets — can easily overstimulate a child’s nervous system, triggering a variety of stubborn symptoms. In contrast, she’s discovered that a strict electronic fast single-handedly improves mood, focus, sleep, and behavior, regardless of the child’s diagnosis.

Offered now in this book, this simple intervention can produce a life-changing shift in brain function — all without cost or medication. Dr. Dunckley provides hope for parents who feel that their child has been misdiagnosed or inappropriately medicated, by presenting an alternative explanation for their child’s difficulties and a concrete plan for treating them.

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Screens and Teens: Connecting with Our Kids in a Wireless World

If you feel like you’re losing your teen to technology, you’re not alone.

Screen time is rapidly replacing family time, and for teens especially, it is hardwiring the way they connect with their world. 

In Screens and Teens, Dr. Kathy helps you make sense of all this and empowers you to respond. She:

  • Exposes the lies that technology can teach your teen
  • Guides you in countering those lies with biblical truths and helpful practices
  • Shares success stories of families who have cut back on technology and prioritized each other

Kathy’s research, experience, and relatability all come together for an inspiring book, sure to help you be closer with your kids.

"Dr. Kathy continues to inform and inspire me with Screens and Teens. I feel better equipped to parent my kids in our constantly changing world because of her wisdom. Dr. Kathy’s expertise makes her my "go-to" person when I have questions about technology and the way it affects our family. Whether you have kids or not, this book will make you more aware of the tech-driven world we live in and encourage you to make bold, smart choices." -Kirk Cameron, Actor/Producer

Grab a pen and get ready to underline, circle, and write "That’s so us!" in the margins. Be equipped to keep your family connected.

BONUS: Every book includes an access code to stream or download a powerful 9-session video series (valued at $20) for FREE! In these videos, Dr. Kathy presents eye-opening insights to help you connect with your teen in a whole new way. Designed to be watched prior to reading each chapter, they will help you to engage the book on a deeper level.

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Thrilled to Death: How the Endless Pursuit of Pleasure Is Leaving Us Numb

A fascinating exploration of the profound loss of pleasure in our daily lives and the seven steps for restoring it.

Pleasure. We know what it feels like and many of us spend our days trying to experience it. But can too much pleasure actually be bad for us? Yes, says Dr. Archibald Hart, clinical psychologist and expert in behavorial psychology. Backed by recent brain-imaging research, Dr. Hart shares that to some extent, our pursuit of extreme and overstimulating thrills hijacks our pleasure system and robs us of our ability to experience pleasure in simple things. We are literally being thrilled to death.

In this insightful book, Dr. Hart explores the stark rise in a phenomenon known as anhedonia, an inability to experience pleasure or happiness. Previously linked only to serious emotional disorders, anhedonia is now seen as a contributing factor in depression (specifically nonsadness depression) and in the growing number of people who complain of profound boredom. This emotional numbness and loss of joy are results of the overuse of our brain's pleasure circuits. In Thrilled to Death, Dr. Hart explains the processes of the brain's pleasure center, the damaging trends of overindulgence and overstimulation, the signs and problems of anhedonia, and the seven important steps we must take to recover our wonderful joy in living.

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