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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.
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.
304 pages, Paperback
First published August 9, 2016
846 people are currently reading
8573 people want to read
About the author
Nicholas Kardaras
9 books60 followersDr. Nicholas Kardaras is an internationally renowned speaker, one of the country’s foremost addiction experts, the Executive Director of the Dunes in East Hampton NY—one of the world’s top rehabs, and the founder and Executive Director of Hamptons Discovery--a progressive adolescent treatment program. A former Clinical Professor at Stony Brook Medicine, he has also taught neuropsychology at the doctoral-level, and is the author of "Glow Kids" (St. Martin's Press, 2016) and "How Plato and Pythagoras Can Save Your Life" (Conari, 2011). He is a frequent contributor to Psychology Today and FOX News, and has appeared on the CBS Evening News, NPR, Good Day New York and in Esquire, New York Magazine and Vanity Fair.
Dr. Kardaras has also, admittedly, lived a colorful life: he’s a former AAU National Karate champion, a recovering NYC nightclub owner and a coma survivor. Having once owned celebrity-studded NY nightclubs where he had mingled with the likes of JFK, Jr., Uma Thurman and Tom Cruise, Kardaras emerged from that glamorous-yet-self-destructive world to discover the powerful and transformative teachings of ancient philosophy. He’s a lifelong seeker who has explored many of the world’s wisdom traditions in an effort to become “awakened” and devotes much of his professional time towards helping others who are struggling with addiction or who are in psychospiritual crisis to become “awakened” as well.
Dr. Kardaras has also, admittedly, lived a colorful life: he’s a former AAU National Karate champion, a recovering NYC nightclub owner and a coma survivor. Having once owned celebrity-studded NY nightclubs where he had mingled with the likes of JFK, Jr., Uma Thurman and Tom Cruise, Kardaras emerged from that glamorous-yet-self-destructive world to discover the powerful and transformative teachings of ancient philosophy. He’s a lifelong seeker who has explored many of the world’s wisdom traditions in an effort to become “awakened” and devotes much of his professional time towards helping others who are struggling with addiction or who are in psychospiritual crisis to become “awakened” as well.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 529 reviews
August 26, 2016
Everyone should read this book. Seriously. Sure, it's not perfect: it's a bit alarmist, relies on a lot of anecdotes, and there are lines in which homeslice toots his own horn a bit... But even with those issues, this is an important book. Lessons I've come away with, supported by a preponderance of evidence (as well as my own experience, education, observation, and intuition):
1. Video games, apps, social media are intentionally "game-ified" using random reward schedules, raising cortisol and bp levels, and triggering dopamine, to be addicting.
2. Screens and tech in education tend to amplify what's already happening: making a bad thing worse or a good thing slightly better. Generally, as Admiral Ackbar would say, "It's a trap!"
3. The younger the kid, the less screen time they should have. Ideally, none. None screen time for the littles.
4. Turn off the screens and go outside and play. And be bored sometimes.
5. Social media and/or texting correlates to depression and anxiety, especially for girls.
6. Preponderance of studies really do show that violent video games increase aggressive behaviors. The more "real" and immersive the simulation, the more intense the potential problem. Interestingly, if a game shows blood, that correlates to stronger aggression.
7. Screens themselves are a problem because of their unnatural light and EMFs.
...AND the book has underscored, reinforced, and basically girded our loins to be fierce with the limits we set with our 11 yr old:
--MAXIMUM 90 minutes daily screen time. This includes everything: tv, Wii, Netflix, Youtube, Minecraft, texting. Anything on a screen.
--tracking screen use with a tracking app and checking texts and anything requiring a password
--certainly no social media accounts until 13, and then we'll reassess.
--Screen-Free Sundays (this goes for the whole family)
--screens off after 7 pm
--when we decide he needs a phone, it will be a basic flip-phone only. No hand-me-down iPhone or computer-in-a-pocket for this kid.
--no first-person shooter games, ever
--an old Wii is enough, we don't also "need" an Xbox (so forget asking, kiddo).
If you want to argue with me, please, just read the entire book first. Then we'll talk.
1. Video games, apps, social media are intentionally "game-ified" using random reward schedules, raising cortisol and bp levels, and triggering dopamine, to be addicting.
2. Screens and tech in education tend to amplify what's already happening: making a bad thing worse or a good thing slightly better. Generally, as Admiral Ackbar would say, "It's a trap!"
3. The younger the kid, the less screen time they should have. Ideally, none. None screen time for the littles.
4. Turn off the screens and go outside and play. And be bored sometimes.
5. Social media and/or texting correlates to depression and anxiety, especially for girls.
6. Preponderance of studies really do show that violent video games increase aggressive behaviors. The more "real" and immersive the simulation, the more intense the potential problem. Interestingly, if a game shows blood, that correlates to stronger aggression.
7. Screens themselves are a problem because of their unnatural light and EMFs.
...AND the book has underscored, reinforced, and basically girded our loins to be fierce with the limits we set with our 11 yr old:
--MAXIMUM 90 minutes daily screen time. This includes everything: tv, Wii, Netflix, Youtube, Minecraft, texting. Anything on a screen.
--tracking screen use with a tracking app and checking texts and anything requiring a password
--certainly no social media accounts until 13, and then we'll reassess.
--Screen-Free Sundays (this goes for the whole family)
--screens off after 7 pm
--when we decide he needs a phone, it will be a basic flip-phone only. No hand-me-down iPhone or computer-in-a-pocket for this kid.
--no first-person shooter games, ever
--an old Wii is enough, we don't also "need" an Xbox (so forget asking, kiddo).
If you want to argue with me, please, just read the entire book first. Then we'll talk.
January 20, 2022
I like the book and enjoyed the arguments put forward but I am not a big fan of the fear mongering that this book seems to promote. I have read this book in parallel with "Hooked" so I am well aware of how UI and UX are being studied and designed in a way to hook people and get them coming back + I graduated and work in marketing field so I know those stuff from exposure in the corporate environment.
My issue with this book is that if readers are not careful enough they will not distinguish words like "could" which have cleverly been used in places where the author does not have any concrete example/studies to back his claims but is trying to make it look like he has and just communicating his opinion. The author also made use of lots of rhetoric, he has put forward examples of the extremest of nature (also anecdotes) and is trying to make readers believe that these extreme behaviors are now prevalent.
My point is this book should be taken with a grain of salt. It is filled with anecdotes and lots of inexact science like the bit with FMRI and the screen radiation. For me the author believes in his work so much that he is just going overboard.
I understand the skepticism about technology and from where it is coming from and to some extent agree with the author. This book does contain some hard truths, some valid arguments and highlights some very real issues. I also enjoyed learning a bit of historical facts and cases I was not previously knowledgeable of. However, I do not believe fear mongering is the solution nor complete and extreme ban on technology is a solution. Social media and gaming are definitely influential and changing perceptions/behaviors which are not always for the best. There is ample evidence of that and we should definitely be concerned on how best to manipulate these tools that we have created.
This feels to me like a book written with good intentions but not necessarily the most accurate. But that also because what we know in this field is very limited right now and likely to change with more research, experience and evolution in this field.
I think this article makes a very good point as well and should be read by anyone concerned. https://getpocket.com/@ar.shad.02/sha...
My issue with this book is that if readers are not careful enough they will not distinguish words like "could" which have cleverly been used in places where the author does not have any concrete example/studies to back his claims but is trying to make it look like he has and just communicating his opinion. The author also made use of lots of rhetoric, he has put forward examples of the extremest of nature (also anecdotes) and is trying to make readers believe that these extreme behaviors are now prevalent.
My point is this book should be taken with a grain of salt. It is filled with anecdotes and lots of inexact science like the bit with FMRI and the screen radiation. For me the author believes in his work so much that he is just going overboard.
I understand the skepticism about technology and from where it is coming from and to some extent agree with the author. This book does contain some hard truths, some valid arguments and highlights some very real issues. I also enjoyed learning a bit of historical facts and cases I was not previously knowledgeable of. However, I do not believe fear mongering is the solution nor complete and extreme ban on technology is a solution. Social media and gaming are definitely influential and changing perceptions/behaviors which are not always for the best. There is ample evidence of that and we should definitely be concerned on how best to manipulate these tools that we have created.
This feels to me like a book written with good intentions but not necessarily the most accurate. But that also because what we know in this field is very limited right now and likely to change with more research, experience and evolution in this field.
I think this article makes a very good point as well and should be read by anyone concerned. https://getpocket.com/@ar.shad.02/sha...
February 18, 2018
I knew this book would be bad, but I have never read something so bad as to give me heartburn.
The book opens with an anecdote with what is perhaps the most unrealistic mother I have ever seen in nonfiction -- one who wants her child not to play outside. It then proceeds to equate the Tetris effect with psychosis.
For those who have not heard of this: the Tetris effect -- where one finds oneself unconsciously thinking about an activity and things related to it when one is not doing it -- is not confined to electronic activity. Any sustained mental activity involving concentration and thought can bring this about, and it is, from my experience, part of the creative process. I have played at most a few hours of video games in my life, so I never experienced it in that context; I came across this effect in mathematics research, where it is not only common, but prized as a particularly productive way to discover things. Indeed, most mathematicians speak of this from time to time at least, and one of the greatest mathematicians of all time, Srinivasta Ramanujan, produced some of his most outstanding and impressive discoveries while dreaming of a Hindu goddess giving them to him. It was thus angering to see the author scare people into fearing this perfectly normal feature of the human mind as some sign of psychosis.
We then get a quote from a "Commander Dr. Doan", whose first name -- Andrew -- is given in Chapter 3, and who is never firmly referenced:
“Gaming companies will hire the best neurobiologists and neuroscientists to hook up electrodes to the test-gamer. If they don’t elicit the blood pressure that they shoot for—typically 180 over 120 or 140 within a few minutes of playing, and if they don’t show sweating and an increase in their galvanic skin responses, they go back and tweak the game to get that maximum addicting and arousing response that they’re looking for,”
In many years of reading video game culture, the writings of developers of video games, and following the controversy over supposed neurological effects of video games, I have never even heard of a suggestion of this happening at any company prior to reading this unverifiable quote, and can find no other evidence to back up this claim. If this were going on, I strongly suspect this would have been trumpeted in all reputable papers years ago when the controversy was more public. Dr. Doan later makes the claim that terrorist organizations use video games to recruit; given that the same can be said about video, music played on loudspeakers, magazines, or spoken language, I fail to see what significance this would have even if true.
Unfortunately this chapter is a representative portion -- the rest of the book is similarly wrong, spuriously linking gaming with all sorts of physical and mental ills via cherry-picked studies and anecdotes. The old "school shooting and video games go hand-in-hand" argument is even trotted out.
More angering, however, is the book's incredibly spurious assertion that computer use can cause developmental disorders -- including ADHD, Asperger's, and autism. As a person with the first two conditions, whose own twin sister has the third, it is incredibly sickening and utterly insulting to see these things -- particularly the last two -- used as boogeymen by this charlatan.
At the conclusion, we are finally presented with the ostensible cure for "addiction": wilderness therapies -- which have a tendency to be unregulated and have a history of causing kids to die from neglect -- and the author's own treatment center. Kardaras claims that his treatment center does not cover these things in an answer to an accusation on this Goodreads page; if so, why does he list himself as directing said center in his description on this site, and hawk said center in the book's final chapter? He also asks people to get political about this, so as to spread the hysteria.
It would be bad enough if he were promoting this book to people who would be receiving said treatment; he would then be an effective charlatan. But he is not promoting it to the patients; he is hawking it to their parents -- who will implement his terrible advice out of genuine goodwill -- and it is the parents' children, who have no say or power in what happens on this matter, who suffer the results. This is the most sickening thing about this book: it is spectacularly despicable that a man could take the parent-child relationship and corrupt it to harm children for his own personal gain; for this reason, I suspect that Dr. Nicholas Kardaras is not merely a charlatan, but utterly soulless and banal as well. For the sake of his potential victims, I hope his nascent social movement -- mentioned at the book's end -- never takes off, and I hope that this review will go some way in preventing that possibility.
The book opens with an anecdote with what is perhaps the most unrealistic mother I have ever seen in nonfiction -- one who wants her child not to play outside. It then proceeds to equate the Tetris effect with psychosis.
For those who have not heard of this: the Tetris effect -- where one finds oneself unconsciously thinking about an activity and things related to it when one is not doing it -- is not confined to electronic activity. Any sustained mental activity involving concentration and thought can bring this about, and it is, from my experience, part of the creative process. I have played at most a few hours of video games in my life, so I never experienced it in that context; I came across this effect in mathematics research, where it is not only common, but prized as a particularly productive way to discover things. Indeed, most mathematicians speak of this from time to time at least, and one of the greatest mathematicians of all time, Srinivasta Ramanujan, produced some of his most outstanding and impressive discoveries while dreaming of a Hindu goddess giving them to him. It was thus angering to see the author scare people into fearing this perfectly normal feature of the human mind as some sign of psychosis.
We then get a quote from a "Commander Dr. Doan", whose first name -- Andrew -- is given in Chapter 3, and who is never firmly referenced:
“Gaming companies will hire the best neurobiologists and neuroscientists to hook up electrodes to the test-gamer. If they don’t elicit the blood pressure that they shoot for—typically 180 over 120 or 140 within a few minutes of playing, and if they don’t show sweating and an increase in their galvanic skin responses, they go back and tweak the game to get that maximum addicting and arousing response that they’re looking for,”
In many years of reading video game culture, the writings of developers of video games, and following the controversy over supposed neurological effects of video games, I have never even heard of a suggestion of this happening at any company prior to reading this unverifiable quote, and can find no other evidence to back up this claim. If this were going on, I strongly suspect this would have been trumpeted in all reputable papers years ago when the controversy was more public. Dr. Doan later makes the claim that terrorist organizations use video games to recruit; given that the same can be said about video, music played on loudspeakers, magazines, or spoken language, I fail to see what significance this would have even if true.
Unfortunately this chapter is a representative portion -- the rest of the book is similarly wrong, spuriously linking gaming with all sorts of physical and mental ills via cherry-picked studies and anecdotes. The old "school shooting and video games go hand-in-hand" argument is even trotted out.
More angering, however, is the book's incredibly spurious assertion that computer use can cause developmental disorders -- including ADHD, Asperger's, and autism. As a person with the first two conditions, whose own twin sister has the third, it is incredibly sickening and utterly insulting to see these things -- particularly the last two -- used as boogeymen by this charlatan.
At the conclusion, we are finally presented with the ostensible cure for "addiction": wilderness therapies -- which have a tendency to be unregulated and have a history of causing kids to die from neglect -- and the author's own treatment center. Kardaras claims that his treatment center does not cover these things in an answer to an accusation on this Goodreads page; if so, why does he list himself as directing said center in his description on this site, and hawk said center in the book's final chapter? He also asks people to get political about this, so as to spread the hysteria.
It would be bad enough if he were promoting this book to people who would be receiving said treatment; he would then be an effective charlatan. But he is not promoting it to the patients; he is hawking it to their parents -- who will implement his terrible advice out of genuine goodwill -- and it is the parents' children, who have no say or power in what happens on this matter, who suffer the results. This is the most sickening thing about this book: it is spectacularly despicable that a man could take the parent-child relationship and corrupt it to harm children for his own personal gain; for this reason, I suspect that Dr. Nicholas Kardaras is not merely a charlatan, but utterly soulless and banal as well. For the sake of his potential victims, I hope his nascent social movement -- mentioned at the book's end -- never takes off, and I hope that this review will go some way in preventing that possibility.
October 27, 2016
powerful & scary. in short, less screen-time, for anyone, is more. read this book if you want to understand the ins/outs as to why.
the author does a solid job referencing studies and support for the case against too much screen-time. he covers smartphones/ipads, TVs, computer screens, and e-readers thoroughly. he also covers gaming (strategy as well as first-person-shooter), web-surfing, and social apps really well, diving into the unique psychological and physiological impact of each; not all screen use is the same, though there is hard to find much redeeming about any of it (particularly if you have addictive tendencies).
my only negative critique of the approach would be the use of what sometimes feels like deliberate scare tactics. for the general readership, that's probably prudent, as we need a little jolt, but it can be a little heavy on the agenda pushing, when what I'm primarily interested in is the science (as limited as it is at the moment). that said, it's a minor gripe, as the book is indeed science driven.
we need to get smart, and fast, regarding how our children's developing minds (not to mention our own adult minds) should be exposed to this technology and the content within it.
the author does a solid job referencing studies and support for the case against too much screen-time. he covers smartphones/ipads, TVs, computer screens, and e-readers thoroughly. he also covers gaming (strategy as well as first-person-shooter), web-surfing, and social apps really well, diving into the unique psychological and physiological impact of each; not all screen use is the same, though there is hard to find much redeeming about any of it (particularly if you have addictive tendencies).
my only negative critique of the approach would be the use of what sometimes feels like deliberate scare tactics. for the general readership, that's probably prudent, as we need a little jolt, but it can be a little heavy on the agenda pushing, when what I'm primarily interested in is the science (as limited as it is at the moment). that said, it's a minor gripe, as the book is indeed science driven.
we need to get smart, and fast, regarding how our children's developing minds (not to mention our own adult minds) should be exposed to this technology and the content within it.
July 17, 2017
I am the ideal audience for this book - we already set strict limits on screens in our house, emphasize outdoor time, and don't have any video games. I couldn't hardly stand to read this book. It seemed like the worst type of fear mongering and wasn't even applicable to most families.
December 29, 2016
The author has clearly an axe to grind. The book is full of anecdotal evidence, cherry-picked studies and alarmism. The author often makes use of alarmist phrases pointed to worried parents, a very common rethoric of preachers of the end of times. Altough sometimes it is reasonable, and points out that screens/videogames/social media might be a just a little influence in a greater problem, it then bombards you with anecdotal evidence of disturbed mentally ill patients and fear-mongering phrases.
From a political point of view, the author is great in tangling the reader with his rhetoric, hiding the flaky relationship between studies and the actual point he is making and cherry picking quotes and blowing the statements of scientists out of proportion. The author is smart, yet sometimes he plays dumb when working with some statements of his detractors, just to appeal to the reader.
From a political point of view, the author is great in tangling the reader with his rhetoric, hiding the flaky relationship between studies and the actual point he is making and cherry picking quotes and blowing the statements of scientists out of proportion. The author is smart, yet sometimes he plays dumb when working with some statements of his detractors, just to appeal to the reader.
October 9, 2020
This book is written with the best of intentions, I am sure. An author trying to wake up our society to the dangers of screens, media, and video games. The best part about this book is that it forces you to think about and do a self-audit of your screen consumption. Aside from that, it fails to hit the mark.
The author is so wildly extreme that it makes this book very difficult to read. Similar to those anti-smoking commercials that show the lady with the hole in her neck talking and trying to convince us that every smoker will end up like her. Those commercials fail to make an impact because we all know that result is an extreme and will not impact the majority of smokers. This book does the same thing. Stories like a teenager coming into the author's office in a delusional trance. When asked if he knows where he is, the kid responds scared and bewildered "am I still in the game?" *eye roll* The author also talks about kids who play Minecraft and later leave their house and get terrified at the sight of trees not actually being square like in the game. *eye roll*
This book is full of extremist fear mongering. It was SO hard to read. every "study" that the author talked about had very little substance and was liberally interpreted to fit the authors point. There were also so many examples or "studies" that the authors uses that contain SUCH a small sample size, yet the author paints the picture that this will happen to every person that uses screens, media, and video games. For example, the author talks about video game additions in the military. He shares a "study" that said “We have seen increased issues with gaming addictions in the [military] parents of young children and we have seen five cases where infants died as a result of physical abuse or neglect related to parents’ constant gaming.” The author then in frustration asks "why are we not seeing this in the media!?" .... uhh maybe because it is FIVE? Very tragic, yes, but also an extremely tiny sample size. The author fails to make the natural comparison of how video-game related neglect in the military compares in numbers to other types of neglect in the military. Nor does he compare how video-game related neglect in the general population compares in numbers to other types of neglect in the general population. Instead he only uses this very small pin-pointed statistic to create fear and force an emotional response down the reader's throat.
This book addresses a VERY important topic. But the author goes about it with extremist fear mongering and substance-lacking statistics and examples. If you want to read a radical opinion piece, then this is the book for you. Otherwise, keep looking for another book.
The author is so wildly extreme that it makes this book very difficult to read. Similar to those anti-smoking commercials that show the lady with the hole in her neck talking and trying to convince us that every smoker will end up like her. Those commercials fail to make an impact because we all know that result is an extreme and will not impact the majority of smokers. This book does the same thing. Stories like a teenager coming into the author's office in a delusional trance. When asked if he knows where he is, the kid responds scared and bewildered "am I still in the game?" *eye roll* The author also talks about kids who play Minecraft and later leave their house and get terrified at the sight of trees not actually being square like in the game. *eye roll*
This book is full of extremist fear mongering. It was SO hard to read. every "study" that the author talked about had very little substance and was liberally interpreted to fit the authors point. There were also so many examples or "studies" that the authors uses that contain SUCH a small sample size, yet the author paints the picture that this will happen to every person that uses screens, media, and video games. For example, the author talks about video game additions in the military. He shares a "study" that said “We have seen increased issues with gaming addictions in the [military] parents of young children and we have seen five cases where infants died as a result of physical abuse or neglect related to parents’ constant gaming.” The author then in frustration asks "why are we not seeing this in the media!?" .... uhh maybe because it is FIVE? Very tragic, yes, but also an extremely tiny sample size. The author fails to make the natural comparison of how video-game related neglect in the military compares in numbers to other types of neglect in the military. Nor does he compare how video-game related neglect in the general population compares in numbers to other types of neglect in the general population. Instead he only uses this very small pin-pointed statistic to create fear and force an emotional response down the reader's throat.
This book addresses a VERY important topic. But the author goes about it with extremist fear mongering and substance-lacking statistics and examples. If you want to read a radical opinion piece, then this is the book for you. Otherwise, keep looking for another book.
August 14, 2016
Whenever I read books like this one I want to toss out my Kindle Fire and cell phone, even though it's a flip phone. (Fortunately, I had a paper copy of the book!) All the new technology isn't worth it, especially when it comes down to how addicted children are to it all. While some readers may not believe all the author's horror stories, I find it hard to believe he's making things up. Unlike other similar books on the topic, Nicholas Kardaras also comes right out and states it's ludicrous to believe children need cell phones, instead of stating it's unrealistic in this day and age to expect them to give them up. Take them away, take away everything electronic that is like crack to their developing brains. Fight against school policies that want every child to have an iPad. Kill the glow before it kills something very human in a child.
(Note: I received a free copy of this book from Amazon Vine in exchange for an honest review.)
(Note: I received a free copy of this book from Amazon Vine in exchange for an honest review.)
July 16, 2021
This book is very much based in alarmist and fear mongering strategies. I agree with his thesis that kids should use less screens and spend more time playing & engaging with the world, I am definitely a member of his target audience. However, I don’t think his techniques would work on swaying parents from the other side - who wants to be yelled at or scared into submission? Those of us who agree with him on principal, also do not want to be scared or lectured.
October 17, 2018
Yikes! Every parent should read this. The true but scare-tactic stories of video game killers was a little much for me, but I think the brain and documented research here is worth studying and knowing. We are fighting an uphill battle.
July 15, 2021
I don’t even know where to start on this book... I feel kind of bad giving a one star review but, honestly, this book was not even remotely close to my expectations.
I only read the whole thing because I finish every book I ever start... I found myself constantly, and almost overwhelmingly, running into over emphasized exaggerations in reference to word choice, overzealous imagery and examples using scenarios that are worse case and often rare.
The author clearly did his research but very rarely ever presented any arguments that were against his own, and when he did they were brushed aside as though trivial regardless of any evidence that could possibly prove otherwise. Plus, the examples and close references that he did use were very brief in explanation AND contained almost no statistical data or depth.
I thought that it was pretty funny that at the end of the VERY FIRST chapter the author makes a poignant and obvious statement that the book is NOT biased and he is simply stating facts. THEN the author goes on throughout the rest of the ENTIRE book to use only incredibly biased information and VERY OFTEN states his own personal opinions throughout.
There was an entire chapter on school shootings… It seems he put most of his research into that subject and while he did tie it into the use of video games and adolescence.. The entire chapter was drastically exaggerated toward the impact that this subject has a whole on the epidemic.
Majority of the authors research was put into video games, which was incredibly disappointing because I thought he would talk more about the science of radio waves or generational social health but instead briefly noted that it existed and then spent most of his time flooding the entire book with every vivid examples of worst possible outcome in regards to 1 to 5 individuals.
Honestly, the entire book seemed to be a massive piece of propaganda riddled with various scare tactics geared towards the people that already follow in his opinions to believe more passionately.
I only read the whole thing because I finish every book I ever start... I found myself constantly, and almost overwhelmingly, running into over emphasized exaggerations in reference to word choice, overzealous imagery and examples using scenarios that are worse case and often rare.
The author clearly did his research but very rarely ever presented any arguments that were against his own, and when he did they were brushed aside as though trivial regardless of any evidence that could possibly prove otherwise. Plus, the examples and close references that he did use were very brief in explanation AND contained almost no statistical data or depth.
I thought that it was pretty funny that at the end of the VERY FIRST chapter the author makes a poignant and obvious statement that the book is NOT biased and he is simply stating facts. THEN the author goes on throughout the rest of the ENTIRE book to use only incredibly biased information and VERY OFTEN states his own personal opinions throughout.
There was an entire chapter on school shootings… It seems he put most of his research into that subject and while he did tie it into the use of video games and adolescence.. The entire chapter was drastically exaggerated toward the impact that this subject has a whole on the epidemic.
Majority of the authors research was put into video games, which was incredibly disappointing because I thought he would talk more about the science of radio waves or generational social health but instead briefly noted that it existed and then spent most of his time flooding the entire book with every vivid examples of worst possible outcome in regards to 1 to 5 individuals.
Honestly, the entire book seemed to be a massive piece of propaganda riddled with various scare tactics geared towards the people that already follow in his opinions to believe more passionately.
April 29, 2023
This book was so bad and hard to get through. Mostly fear mongering, extreme unrealistic scenarios and anecdotal unbelievable “evidence”. I found myself laughing at the end of the book when of course he brought up the “Matrix” and the red and blue pills. Not for someone looking for basic guidance on balance with technology use in children.
February 26, 2019
This book sucks.
Read it if: you'd like a Fox News take on children's usage of technology. You can do better if you'd like real research on this topic.
Read it if: you'd like a Fox News take on children's usage of technology. You can do better if you'd like real research on this topic.
September 4, 2023
I've been wanting to read this book for the last year or two, and given my younger children's attachment to their Kindles, I figured it was time.
The first part of the book focuses on the effects of small screens like iPads, iPhones, Kindles, etc. on children and developing minds. There's a chapter on texting and social media; one on clinical effects; and one on mass media effects.
Starting in Chapter 8 Kardaras tackles the issue of excessive video gaming with a focus on first person shooters. This covers three chapters.
Chapter 12 addresses the "educational industrial complex," and explores how corporations have tried to profit from tax dollars by putting tablets in every classroom.
Finally, there's a chapter about solutions, which is just 10 pages long.
If you're counting, that's about 236 pages dedicated to "How Screen Addiction Is Hijacking Our Kids" and 10 pages dedicated to "How to Break the Trance." Granted, Kardaras touches on the digital detox early in the book. But the problem/solution ratio still seems a bit lopsided.
Having dealt with screens with my older children when they were young, I feel like Kardaras could have provided more solutions... or at least more examples of how a person might implement some of the solutions.
Nevertheless, this is a compelling book packed with research on the effects of screens, video games, and electronic media. I definitely recommend it, especially if you have family members who are being negatively impacted by screens.
The first part of the book focuses on the effects of small screens like iPads, iPhones, Kindles, etc. on children and developing minds. There's a chapter on texting and social media; one on clinical effects; and one on mass media effects.
Starting in Chapter 8 Kardaras tackles the issue of excessive video gaming with a focus on first person shooters. This covers three chapters.
Chapter 12 addresses the "educational industrial complex," and explores how corporations have tried to profit from tax dollars by putting tablets in every classroom.
Finally, there's a chapter about solutions, which is just 10 pages long.
If you're counting, that's about 236 pages dedicated to "How Screen Addiction Is Hijacking Our Kids" and 10 pages dedicated to "How to Break the Trance." Granted, Kardaras touches on the digital detox early in the book. But the problem/solution ratio still seems a bit lopsided.
Having dealt with screens with my older children when they were young, I feel like Kardaras could have provided more solutions... or at least more examples of how a person might implement some of the solutions.
Nevertheless, this is a compelling book packed with research on the effects of screens, video games, and electronic media. I definitely recommend it, especially if you have family members who are being negatively impacted by screens.
January 1, 2019
Scared Straight for the dangers of technology. Just take a look at that creepy front cover. A doom and gloom book about the damage that screens, video games and cell phones cause to our young people. The worst of it? It's too soon to know what the long term effects will be.
After reading Glow, you may decide it's time to limit your own use of devices (phone, tablet, laptop). And if you have kids, you may decide it's time to take the devices away for good.
After reading Glow, you may decide it's time to limit your own use of devices (phone, tablet, laptop). And if you have kids, you may decide it's time to take the devices away for good.
April 25, 2022
Don't get me wrong, I am not at all against the message of this book. I definitely agree that screen addiction is a very real thing. I personally believe that I have a screen addiction (I'm trying to work on it...) However, the tone and style of the book did not sit well with me.
Although I don't deny that there is a problem, I also don't believe that this book is the solution. Or even a good advocate for the problem. Although the author says in chapter one that he does not have a bias against technology, his bias is very clear throughout the book. He often interjects his own opinions within the science and creates a muddle of what is and is not factual. Don't get me wrong, I'm not at all a researcher or a scientist, but I do know that, after glancing through his scientific sources, the majority of them came from places like CNN, the New York Times, Washington Post, etc. I would have appreciated seeing more scientific sources for these many studies he's constantly referencing.
Additionally and out of curiosity, I searched up and read through some of the articles listed in his sources. (I specifically looked through the ones related to phones and cancer, simply because I figured that would be the easiest to see a specific correlation or truth around). I was honestly a little frustrated with reading through the actual article and realizing what pieces the author picked and chose. While he referenced the one part of the article that mentioned carcinogenic phone usage, he failed to mention later on in the article when the researchers or journal mentioned that these studies were done on rats (not humans) and should not necessarily be applied to human health without further investigation.
Do phones cause cancer? Maybe. But the author's certain cry of death is far from what his sources actually read.
I didn't enjoy the book from very early on, but I kept reading through because I was interested to see his solution to the problem, especially since technology is very integrated into our lives. (Don't get me wrong, I would love to use computers less, but as a student at an online school and an employee at a job that runs things primarily through ipads and computers, it is rather hard to do so.)
In the end, the message is to go outside and have friends. And if that doesn't work, contact his organization and enroll children in his therapy. I found this answer very unsatisfying, mostly because it's 1) The obvious solution that was already presented early on in the book, and 2) All of his examples showed children and families who had difficult living situations in which those solutions were almost impossible to accomplish. What is the solution for them? Is there none? I was left with more questions than answers.
Finally, for such an important topic and one that affects children--pretty innocent souls who don't really know what they're getting into and who are too naive to really guide themselves through this without proper adult guidance, I felt like the entire tone of the book was rather crass and unprofessional. I just expected more from someone who seems very well educated on the topic and who has worked in the field for as long as he says.
Overall, I don't deny the message, but the actual execution of the book was not enjoyable.
Although I don't deny that there is a problem, I also don't believe that this book is the solution. Or even a good advocate for the problem. Although the author says in chapter one that he does not have a bias against technology, his bias is very clear throughout the book. He often interjects his own opinions within the science and creates a muddle of what is and is not factual. Don't get me wrong, I'm not at all a researcher or a scientist, but I do know that, after glancing through his scientific sources, the majority of them came from places like CNN, the New York Times, Washington Post, etc. I would have appreciated seeing more scientific sources for these many studies he's constantly referencing.
Additionally and out of curiosity, I searched up and read through some of the articles listed in his sources. (I specifically looked through the ones related to phones and cancer, simply because I figured that would be the easiest to see a specific correlation or truth around). I was honestly a little frustrated with reading through the actual article and realizing what pieces the author picked and chose. While he referenced the one part of the article that mentioned carcinogenic phone usage, he failed to mention later on in the article when the researchers or journal mentioned that these studies were done on rats (not humans) and should not necessarily be applied to human health without further investigation.
Do phones cause cancer? Maybe. But the author's certain cry of death is far from what his sources actually read.
I didn't enjoy the book from very early on, but I kept reading through because I was interested to see his solution to the problem, especially since technology is very integrated into our lives. (Don't get me wrong, I would love to use computers less, but as a student at an online school and an employee at a job that runs things primarily through ipads and computers, it is rather hard to do so.)
In the end, the message is to go outside and have friends. And if that doesn't work, contact his organization and enroll children in his therapy. I found this answer very unsatisfying, mostly because it's 1) The obvious solution that was already presented early on in the book, and 2) All of his examples showed children and families who had difficult living situations in which those solutions were almost impossible to accomplish. What is the solution for them? Is there none? I was left with more questions than answers.
Finally, for such an important topic and one that affects children--pretty innocent souls who don't really know what they're getting into and who are too naive to really guide themselves through this without proper adult guidance, I felt like the entire tone of the book was rather crass and unprofessional. I just expected more from someone who seems very well educated on the topic and who has worked in the field for as long as he says.
Overall, I don't deny the message, but the actual execution of the book was not enjoyable.
March 25, 2019
I wish I would have read this BEFORE giving my kids an iPhone and before I allowed the Xbox and Kindle devices into my kid's lives. This is a very informative book on the dangers of electronics and how they can affect us if we don't regulate and set limits. Too much of anything isn't a good thing, electronics are no different. This book has extreme cases of what can happen if you let video games and phones take over. It also gives ideas of how to overcome the addiction.
On a side note, I had set limits for my kids before giving them these things, which they hate and can attest too, BUT I wish I would have set more/different limits before giving them the initial access. I have slowly had to set more boundaries after learning and becoming aware of all the dangers connected to gaming, social media, and electronics in general.
On a side note, I had set limits for my kids before giving them these things, which they hate and can attest too, BUT I wish I would have set more/different limits before giving them the initial access. I have slowly had to set more boundaries after learning and becoming aware of all the dangers connected to gaming, social media, and electronics in general.
June 1, 2022
Wow. What a jarring book about screens.
Screens such as Video/computer games, iPhones, and iPads are being called “Digital heroin” and causing “brain orgasms”.
“That's right - a kid's brain on tech looks like a brain on drugs”. “This brain-orgasm effect is what makes screen so addictive for adults, but even more so for children with still-developing brains that just aren't equipped to handle that level of stimulation”
This book was an amazing eye opener and solidified why we will not be allowing video games, and personal screens in our children’s lives, and why their TV usage is almost non existent. I can’t recommend this book enough. We need to save our kids.
Screens such as Video/computer games, iPhones, and iPads are being called “Digital heroin” and causing “brain orgasms”.
“That's right - a kid's brain on tech looks like a brain on drugs”. “This brain-orgasm effect is what makes screen so addictive for adults, but even more so for children with still-developing brains that just aren't equipped to handle that level of stimulation”
This book was an amazing eye opener and solidified why we will not be allowing video games, and personal screens in our children’s lives, and why their TV usage is almost non existent. I can’t recommend this book enough. We need to save our kids.
November 4, 2018
While I believe less screen time is essential, I do not appreciate the way this book was written. With the claims being made, I expect extensive source notes. Nope. There is only one chapter devoted to breaking screen addiction, and there is nothing suggested beyond common sense. This read like a local news station's investigative reporting - sensationalize with fear to cover the questionable content.
June 13, 2018
First, this book made me very sad. Second, too many anecdotes. Third, writing style: alarmist. BUT, the message is important and while the delivery leaves a bit to be desired he does cite some specific studies and raise some important issues.
November 30, 2022
Read for a book club, I was curious but wouldn't recommend, clunky to get through, too extreme on technology being the problem.
February 23, 2017
Dr. Kardaras makes a good case that our children are being neurally harmed by the amount of time spent on digital devices. This book should be on the reading list of any parent.
I am making note of many of the quotes I enjoyed from the book for future reference.
"There is not one credible research study that shows that a child exposed to more technology earlier in life has better educational outcomes than a tech-free kid; while there is some evidence that screen-exposed kids may have some increased pattern-recognition abilities, there just isn't any research that shows that they become better students or better learners." p. 3
"The researchers found that the more video games the kids played, the greater MD (mean diffusivity, meaning microstructural properties of various parts of the brain) in key parts of the brain -- and increased MD equates to lower tissue density of cellular structures. Not good things." p. 18
"Minecraft is in every way -- clinically and neurologically -- an addicting drug. Minecraft proponents will use the magic buzzword "educational" to deflect any concern but fail to produce any research or evidence that actually show that video games can lead to increased learning. Sure, there is some evidence that the vdieo games can increase spatial awareness and pattern recognition -- but at what cost?" p. 20
"Interactive multimedia leaves very little to the imagination. Like a Hollywood film, multimedia narrative includes such specific representation that less and less is left to the mind's eye. By contrast, the written word sparks images and evokes metaphors that get much of their meaning from their reader's imagination and experiences. When you read novel, much of the color, sound and motion comes from you." p. 28
"[Steve] Jobs expressed a very clear anti-tech-in-the-classroom opinion as well -- after having once believed that technology was the educational panacea: 'I've probably spearheaded giving away more computer equipment to schools than anybody on the planet. But I've come to the conclusion that the problem is not one that technology can hope to solve. What's wrong with education cannot be fixed with technology. No amount of technology will make a dent.'" p. 31
"... children from preliterate low-tech societies in Guatemala and similar countries showed a prodigious capacity for learning environments equal to those provided for North American and Western European children, they demonstrated an ability to learn estimated to be three or four times greater than that of their higher-tech peers, showing far superior attention, comprehension and retention." p. 34
"In addition to being addicting, according to Sax, video games do not engender the sense of resilience or the patience and drive that the real world requires. In real life, when people lose at sports, they have to lick their wounds and process those experiences as they learn to eventually get back on the horse to compete another day. All of that fosters resilience and emotional growth. When you lose in a video game, you hit the reset button. Game on." p. 40
"The question simply comes down to one of cost/benefit: is having a rewired brain that an see patterns and targets better and react more quickly worth the potential for developing impulse- control disorders -- like addiction and ADHD -- not to mention more serious psychiatric and developmental disorders, such as schizophrenia and autism?" p. 43
"So how dopaminergic are virtual experiences? According to one ground-breaking study by Koepp in 1998, video games increase dopamine as much as sex does, about 100 percent. And keep in mind that those are positively quaint 1998 vdeo games, not the 72 inch LCD, ultrarealistic, hyperstimulating and highly arousing games of today. Think of it this way: we'd be horrified if our young children were exposed to something as inappropriate and stimulating as sex, yet we're letting them get virtual brain orgasm every time they play video games. Knowing that is really any wonder that kids are so hooked on their electronics?" p. 62
"Interestingly, that same brain imaging is now showing us that it's not just understimulated neural pathways (as in feral children) that can lead to neurological differences and developmental problems -- but hat the overstimulation of the glowing, flashing screen of iPads and video games can damage myelin in neural pathways as well. That's because myelin is extremely vulnerable to disruption; oligodendrocytes, the brain cells that produce cholesterol for proper myelination, are easily damaged by things such as head trauma, environmental stressors, toxins, stress hormones, certain drugs -- and overstimulation. What problems can develop as a result of this myelin-destroying overstimulation? Our ability to pay attention and focus, our ability to feel empathy and our ability to discern reality can all be adversely affected by overstimulation during key developmental windows."p.65
"Yes, that's right: that iPad that your child's school thought would be so wonderful as a first-grade learning tool is making your child's brain resemble that of a drug addict." p. 66
"'For the first time, we have found that a sample of randomly assigned young adults showed less activation in certain frontal brain regions following a week of playing violent video games at home, ' claimed Dr. Yang Wang, the lead researcher of the study. 'The affected brain regions are important for controlling emotion and aggressive behavior." p. 67
"[Dr.] Doan believes that many of the suicides and homicides committed by PTSD vets are also influenced by violent video games and sleep deprivation. 'Many of these soldiers -- they're young
kids who are already gamers when they come into the military. Then when they're on base, they can't drink or do drugs because the get tested for that, so they play video games for hours on end as an escape. Add in some combat trauma and sleep deprivation and you have a recipe for disaster.'" p. 79
"According to that 2010 research study done by Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, 20% of teens engaged in hypertexting (120 daily texts). These hypertexters were shown to be at higher risk for unhealthy behaviors and mental health problems: they were twice as likely to have tried alcohol, 41 percent more likely to have used illegal drugs, nearly three and half times more likely to have had sex and 90 percent more likely to have had four or more sex partners." p. 90
"Dunbar is also concerned about the negative developmental impact that our new digital world will have on children. From past research on social interaction, we know that early childhood experiences are crucial in developing those art of the brain that are dedicated to social interaction, empathy and other interpersonal skills. If we deprave a child of interaction and touch early on because they mostly socially interact via screen, those areas won't fully develop." p. 93
"Facebook, with its 1.23 billion active users, has not lead to happiness; instead, it has led to a phenomenon known as 'Facebook depression,' whereby the more 'friends' one has on Facebook, the higher the likelihood of depression. There is also, as mentioned, the double whammy that the more time spent on social media and the more texting a person does, the higher the likelihood of not just depression but tech addiction as well, which only further amplified the isolation and disconnect from healthier activities and true, meaningful face-to-face social contact." p. 94
"Years ago, there was a famous PSA commercial geared toward parents that would run in New York: 'It's 10 o'clock -- do you know where your children are?' Today answering yes to that simple question could still be a problem; if thee is a computer in that bedroom, your child is not alone and could potentially not be safe. Instead, the new PSA for this millennium needs to say 'It's 10 o'clock -- do you you who your kids are online with?'" p. 106
"The researchers found that following a ban on phone use, the schools' test scores improved by 6.4 percent. Interestingly, the impact on underachieving students (mostly poor and special ed) was even more significant: their average test scores rose by 14 percent." p. 107
"Dunckley hypothesized that interacting with screens overstimulates the child and shifts the nervous system into fight-or-flight mode, which then leads to dysregulation and disorganization of the various biological and hormonal systems. These disrupted systems can then create -- or exacerbate -- disorders such ADHD, depression, oppositional defiant disorder and anxiety." p. 116
"Sure enough, ample research has shown that exposure to video games and television in childhood and adolescence is a significant risk factor for something exciting makes it difficult for a kid to downshift to something less exciting, others have hypothesized that because most TV shows or video games involve rapid changes in focus, frequent exposure to screens may compromise children's abilities to sustain focus on tasks that are not inherently as attention-grabbing -- like schoolwork." p. 123
"The trap that many parents fall into is in believing that when their kids are hypnotically looking at a screen, they are demonstrating a profound ability to stay focused. after all, they maintain a laserlike attention on the screen, so how can there possibly be an attention problem? But that rapt attention to the screen actually typifies an attention problem. As NYU peditrics professor Dr. Perri Klass wrote for the New Your Times (May 9, 2011): "In fact, a child's ability to stay focused on a screen, though not anywhere else, is actually characteristic of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.'" p. 126
"And to all those parents who think it's a swell idea to give smartphones to your little ones, Dr. Black sheds some very sobering light on that idea: 'Children's skulls and scalps are thinner. So the radiation can penetrate deeper into the brain of children and young adults. There cells are dividing at a faster rate, so the impact of radiation can be much larger." p. 130
"In a 2014 meta-analysis of 217 studies published between 1957 and 1990, psychologists Dr. George Comstock and Dr. Haejung Paik found that the short-term effect of exposure to television violence on actual physical violence against a person was moderate to large in strength. Their results, published in the journal Communication Research, showed a 'positive and significant correlation between television violence and aggressive behavior.'" p. 137
"For good measure, the report added: 'The weight of scientific evidence has been convincing to pediatricians, with more than 98% of pediatricians ... expressing the personal belief that media violence affects children's aggression. Yet, the entertainment industry, the American public, politicians, and parents all have been reluctant to accept these findings and to take action. The debate should be over.'" p. 140
"Dr. Kimberly Ross, a psychologist and founder of the Center for Online and internet Addiction agrees: 'There definitely seems to be a correlation between violent game use and aggressive behavior. Kids throw things, they'll hit their parents, they'll start being violent at school. Parents say, 'He was a good boy; he didn't act like this before.'' Indeed, I've worked with several families who have been attacked by their kids, some mentioned already in this book, when kids' devices were taken away." p. 157
"The research on technology is clear: an exhaustive 2012 meta-analysis, which systematically reviewed 48 studies that examined technology's impact on learning, found that 'technology-based interventions tend to produce just slightly lower levels of improvement when compared with other researched interventions and approaches.'" p. 201
"As Dr. Toyama writes in his commentary, 'Why Technology Will Never Fix Education,' which appeared in the May 19, 2015 issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education: 'One problem is a widespread impression that Silicon Valley innovations are good for society. WE confuse business success with social value, though the two often differ. Any idea that more technology in and of itself cures social ills is obviously flawed. ... Unfortunately, there is no technological fix, and that is perhaps the hardest lesson of amplification. More technology only magnifies socioeconomic disparities, and the only way to avoid that is non-technological.'" p. 202
"Thus Sydney Grammar School has banned students from bringing laptops to school and requires them to handwrite assignments and essays until Year 10. The students have access to computers in the school computer lab, but Dr. Vallance regards laptops in the classroom as a distraction: 'We find that having laptops or iPads in the classroom inhibits conversation -- it's distracting.'" p. 215
"The internationally respected Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has also chimed in and questioned the growing reliance on technology in schools. In a 2015 report, it said schools must give students a solid foundation in reading, writing and math before introducing computers. Indeed, it found that heavy users of computers in the classroom 'do a lot worse in most learning outcomes,' and concluded by saying: 'In the end, technology can amplify great teaching but great technology cannot replace poor teaching.'" p. 216
"One professor from MIT made the passionate plea that we must encourage children to develop the ability to think first, and then give them the computer. After that, the sky's the limit. But if you introduce the computer before the child's thought processes are worked out, then you have a disaster in the making. This is because, as Paiget pointed out, the first twelve years of life are spent putting into place the structures of knowledge that enable young people to grasp abstract, metaphoric, symbolic types of information. ... The danger here is that the computer ... will interrupt that development.'" p. 220
"The Alliance for Childhood, a consortium of some of the top educators and mental health experts in the country, makes several recommendations to combat technology's erosion of the healthy balanced childhood. In addition to mature exposure and time for unstructured play, they also recommend that children maintain close loving relationships with adults and have opportunities to engage in music, drama, painting and other arts. Further, they suggest that kids get involved with hands-on crafts and pursue activities that involve creative verbal expression, like poetry and storytelling." p. 242
I am making note of many of the quotes I enjoyed from the book for future reference.
"There is not one credible research study that shows that a child exposed to more technology earlier in life has better educational outcomes than a tech-free kid; while there is some evidence that screen-exposed kids may have some increased pattern-recognition abilities, there just isn't any research that shows that they become better students or better learners." p. 3
"The researchers found that the more video games the kids played, the greater MD (mean diffusivity, meaning microstructural properties of various parts of the brain) in key parts of the brain -- and increased MD equates to lower tissue density of cellular structures. Not good things." p. 18
"Minecraft is in every way -- clinically and neurologically -- an addicting drug. Minecraft proponents will use the magic buzzword "educational" to deflect any concern but fail to produce any research or evidence that actually show that video games can lead to increased learning. Sure, there is some evidence that the vdieo games can increase spatial awareness and pattern recognition -- but at what cost?" p. 20
"Interactive multimedia leaves very little to the imagination. Like a Hollywood film, multimedia narrative includes such specific representation that less and less is left to the mind's eye. By contrast, the written word sparks images and evokes metaphors that get much of their meaning from their reader's imagination and experiences. When you read novel, much of the color, sound and motion comes from you." p. 28
"[Steve] Jobs expressed a very clear anti-tech-in-the-classroom opinion as well -- after having once believed that technology was the educational panacea: 'I've probably spearheaded giving away more computer equipment to schools than anybody on the planet. But I've come to the conclusion that the problem is not one that technology can hope to solve. What's wrong with education cannot be fixed with technology. No amount of technology will make a dent.'" p. 31
"... children from preliterate low-tech societies in Guatemala and similar countries showed a prodigious capacity for learning environments equal to those provided for North American and Western European children, they demonstrated an ability to learn estimated to be three or four times greater than that of their higher-tech peers, showing far superior attention, comprehension and retention." p. 34
"In addition to being addicting, according to Sax, video games do not engender the sense of resilience or the patience and drive that the real world requires. In real life, when people lose at sports, they have to lick their wounds and process those experiences as they learn to eventually get back on the horse to compete another day. All of that fosters resilience and emotional growth. When you lose in a video game, you hit the reset button. Game on." p. 40
"The question simply comes down to one of cost/benefit: is having a rewired brain that an see patterns and targets better and react more quickly worth the potential for developing impulse- control disorders -- like addiction and ADHD -- not to mention more serious psychiatric and developmental disorders, such as schizophrenia and autism?" p. 43
"So how dopaminergic are virtual experiences? According to one ground-breaking study by Koepp in 1998, video games increase dopamine as much as sex does, about 100 percent. And keep in mind that those are positively quaint 1998 vdeo games, not the 72 inch LCD, ultrarealistic, hyperstimulating and highly arousing games of today. Think of it this way: we'd be horrified if our young children were exposed to something as inappropriate and stimulating as sex, yet we're letting them get virtual brain orgasm every time they play video games. Knowing that is really any wonder that kids are so hooked on their electronics?" p. 62
"Interestingly, that same brain imaging is now showing us that it's not just understimulated neural pathways (as in feral children) that can lead to neurological differences and developmental problems -- but hat the overstimulation of the glowing, flashing screen of iPads and video games can damage myelin in neural pathways as well. That's because myelin is extremely vulnerable to disruption; oligodendrocytes, the brain cells that produce cholesterol for proper myelination, are easily damaged by things such as head trauma, environmental stressors, toxins, stress hormones, certain drugs -- and overstimulation. What problems can develop as a result of this myelin-destroying overstimulation? Our ability to pay attention and focus, our ability to feel empathy and our ability to discern reality can all be adversely affected by overstimulation during key developmental windows."p.65
"Yes, that's right: that iPad that your child's school thought would be so wonderful as a first-grade learning tool is making your child's brain resemble that of a drug addict." p. 66
"'For the first time, we have found that a sample of randomly assigned young adults showed less activation in certain frontal brain regions following a week of playing violent video games at home, ' claimed Dr. Yang Wang, the lead researcher of the study. 'The affected brain regions are important for controlling emotion and aggressive behavior." p. 67
"[Dr.] Doan believes that many of the suicides and homicides committed by PTSD vets are also influenced by violent video games and sleep deprivation. 'Many of these soldiers -- they're young
kids who are already gamers when they come into the military. Then when they're on base, they can't drink or do drugs because the get tested for that, so they play video games for hours on end as an escape. Add in some combat trauma and sleep deprivation and you have a recipe for disaster.'" p. 79
"According to that 2010 research study done by Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, 20% of teens engaged in hypertexting (120 daily texts). These hypertexters were shown to be at higher risk for unhealthy behaviors and mental health problems: they were twice as likely to have tried alcohol, 41 percent more likely to have used illegal drugs, nearly three and half times more likely to have had sex and 90 percent more likely to have had four or more sex partners." p. 90
"Dunbar is also concerned about the negative developmental impact that our new digital world will have on children. From past research on social interaction, we know that early childhood experiences are crucial in developing those art of the brain that are dedicated to social interaction, empathy and other interpersonal skills. If we deprave a child of interaction and touch early on because they mostly socially interact via screen, those areas won't fully develop." p. 93
"Facebook, with its 1.23 billion active users, has not lead to happiness; instead, it has led to a phenomenon known as 'Facebook depression,' whereby the more 'friends' one has on Facebook, the higher the likelihood of depression. There is also, as mentioned, the double whammy that the more time spent on social media and the more texting a person does, the higher the likelihood of not just depression but tech addiction as well, which only further amplified the isolation and disconnect from healthier activities and true, meaningful face-to-face social contact." p. 94
"Years ago, there was a famous PSA commercial geared toward parents that would run in New York: 'It's 10 o'clock -- do you know where your children are?' Today answering yes to that simple question could still be a problem; if thee is a computer in that bedroom, your child is not alone and could potentially not be safe. Instead, the new PSA for this millennium needs to say 'It's 10 o'clock -- do you you who your kids are online with?'" p. 106
"The researchers found that following a ban on phone use, the schools' test scores improved by 6.4 percent. Interestingly, the impact on underachieving students (mostly poor and special ed) was even more significant: their average test scores rose by 14 percent." p. 107
"Dunckley hypothesized that interacting with screens overstimulates the child and shifts the nervous system into fight-or-flight mode, which then leads to dysregulation and disorganization of the various biological and hormonal systems. These disrupted systems can then create -- or exacerbate -- disorders such ADHD, depression, oppositional defiant disorder and anxiety." p. 116
"Sure enough, ample research has shown that exposure to video games and television in childhood and adolescence is a significant risk factor for something exciting makes it difficult for a kid to downshift to something less exciting, others have hypothesized that because most TV shows or video games involve rapid changes in focus, frequent exposure to screens may compromise children's abilities to sustain focus on tasks that are not inherently as attention-grabbing -- like schoolwork." p. 123
"The trap that many parents fall into is in believing that when their kids are hypnotically looking at a screen, they are demonstrating a profound ability to stay focused. after all, they maintain a laserlike attention on the screen, so how can there possibly be an attention problem? But that rapt attention to the screen actually typifies an attention problem. As NYU peditrics professor Dr. Perri Klass wrote for the New Your Times (May 9, 2011): "In fact, a child's ability to stay focused on a screen, though not anywhere else, is actually characteristic of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.'" p. 126
"And to all those parents who think it's a swell idea to give smartphones to your little ones, Dr. Black sheds some very sobering light on that idea: 'Children's skulls and scalps are thinner. So the radiation can penetrate deeper into the brain of children and young adults. There cells are dividing at a faster rate, so the impact of radiation can be much larger." p. 130
"In a 2014 meta-analysis of 217 studies published between 1957 and 1990, psychologists Dr. George Comstock and Dr. Haejung Paik found that the short-term effect of exposure to television violence on actual physical violence against a person was moderate to large in strength. Their results, published in the journal Communication Research, showed a 'positive and significant correlation between television violence and aggressive behavior.'" p. 137
"For good measure, the report added: 'The weight of scientific evidence has been convincing to pediatricians, with more than 98% of pediatricians ... expressing the personal belief that media violence affects children's aggression. Yet, the entertainment industry, the American public, politicians, and parents all have been reluctant to accept these findings and to take action. The debate should be over.'" p. 140
"Dr. Kimberly Ross, a psychologist and founder of the Center for Online and internet Addiction agrees: 'There definitely seems to be a correlation between violent game use and aggressive behavior. Kids throw things, they'll hit their parents, they'll start being violent at school. Parents say, 'He was a good boy; he didn't act like this before.'' Indeed, I've worked with several families who have been attacked by their kids, some mentioned already in this book, when kids' devices were taken away." p. 157
"The research on technology is clear: an exhaustive 2012 meta-analysis, which systematically reviewed 48 studies that examined technology's impact on learning, found that 'technology-based interventions tend to produce just slightly lower levels of improvement when compared with other researched interventions and approaches.'" p. 201
"As Dr. Toyama writes in his commentary, 'Why Technology Will Never Fix Education,' which appeared in the May 19, 2015 issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education: 'One problem is a widespread impression that Silicon Valley innovations are good for society. WE confuse business success with social value, though the two often differ. Any idea that more technology in and of itself cures social ills is obviously flawed. ... Unfortunately, there is no technological fix, and that is perhaps the hardest lesson of amplification. More technology only magnifies socioeconomic disparities, and the only way to avoid that is non-technological.'" p. 202
"Thus Sydney Grammar School has banned students from bringing laptops to school and requires them to handwrite assignments and essays until Year 10. The students have access to computers in the school computer lab, but Dr. Vallance regards laptops in the classroom as a distraction: 'We find that having laptops or iPads in the classroom inhibits conversation -- it's distracting.'" p. 215
"The internationally respected Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has also chimed in and questioned the growing reliance on technology in schools. In a 2015 report, it said schools must give students a solid foundation in reading, writing and math before introducing computers. Indeed, it found that heavy users of computers in the classroom 'do a lot worse in most learning outcomes,' and concluded by saying: 'In the end, technology can amplify great teaching but great technology cannot replace poor teaching.'" p. 216
"One professor from MIT made the passionate plea that we must encourage children to develop the ability to think first, and then give them the computer. After that, the sky's the limit. But if you introduce the computer before the child's thought processes are worked out, then you have a disaster in the making. This is because, as Paiget pointed out, the first twelve years of life are spent putting into place the structures of knowledge that enable young people to grasp abstract, metaphoric, symbolic types of information. ... The danger here is that the computer ... will interrupt that development.'" p. 220
"The Alliance for Childhood, a consortium of some of the top educators and mental health experts in the country, makes several recommendations to combat technology's erosion of the healthy balanced childhood. In addition to mature exposure and time for unstructured play, they also recommend that children maintain close loving relationships with adults and have opportunities to engage in music, drama, painting and other arts. Further, they suggest that kids get involved with hands-on crafts and pursue activities that involve creative verbal expression, like poetry and storytelling." p. 242
December 15, 2018
I appreciated this book. It was referenced in another book I recently read. There were a lot of interesting topics, research and professional input throughout the text.
Some previous reviewers commented that this book was written in an alarmist tone. At times, yes I agree it was a bit extreme - but shouldn't we be alarmed? It's true that Kardaras takes some of the topics to the highest level, I believe because he actually deals with people who are severally effected by screen addiction that this is why his book may make people uncomfortable.
In the end Kardaras offers a simple way to help reconnect with life and that is to cut technology out completely for 4 to 6 weeks. He suggests not going cold turkey, but to knock off an hour a day until you get to zero.
We do, indeed, need to reexamine our love affair with technology and realize all that we have lost and see how damaging it can actually be. We need to reexamine screen time in the classroom and in our homes.
Some previous reviewers commented that this book was written in an alarmist tone. At times, yes I agree it was a bit extreme - but shouldn't we be alarmed? It's true that Kardaras takes some of the topics to the highest level, I believe because he actually deals with people who are severally effected by screen addiction that this is why his book may make people uncomfortable.
In the end Kardaras offers a simple way to help reconnect with life and that is to cut technology out completely for 4 to 6 weeks. He suggests not going cold turkey, but to knock off an hour a day until you get to zero.
We do, indeed, need to reexamine our love affair with technology and realize all that we have lost and see how damaging it can actually be. We need to reexamine screen time in the classroom and in our homes.
December 22, 2022
Glow Kids opens up with a true story about a boy who became so addicted to World of Warcraft that he could not function in reality. It shocked me because when I was checking this book out from the library, I told my husband about a boy with whom I attended university. Freshamn year, he played WoW so much that he was unable to leave his room at all, completely addicted to the game. He eventually flunked out of an expensive private university because of his game addiction! And here was a similar story right in the book. The crazy thing about the boy in the book is that his mother was upset when he broke his addiction. She was scared for him to play outside because of all the bad things that might happen to him. This is the jumping off point for what Kardaras has to say.
This book is overwhelmingly about gaming specifically. The author shares the dirty behind-the-scenes of both creating an addictive game and being addicted to games. It is fairly doom-and-gloom; I will warn you! He also explores screens and how they came to be in the classroom, media effects, texting, video game psychosis and violence, and more. I'll be totally honest - I did not read it all. There is no one in my immediate family who plays video games, and I wanted to move on to other books that are more relevant to us. I would suggest this book to parents who have kiddos who are gamers or parents like me who are curious about it all. It is long - perhaps too detailed, but then again I don't know that I'm the target audience so my perception could be off.
I will say yet again here is another book that scolds "helicopter parents," for supervising their kids and not allowing them to roam. I find this laughable when the rest of the book is a diatribe against screens...how are parents supposed to monitor what their kids are doing with screens if they're completely unsupervised? 🙄 I took off a whole star for this.
Overall probably 3.75 stars
This book is overwhelmingly about gaming specifically. The author shares the dirty behind-the-scenes of both creating an addictive game and being addicted to games. It is fairly doom-and-gloom; I will warn you! He also explores screens and how they came to be in the classroom, media effects, texting, video game psychosis and violence, and more. I'll be totally honest - I did not read it all. There is no one in my immediate family who plays video games, and I wanted to move on to other books that are more relevant to us. I would suggest this book to parents who have kiddos who are gamers or parents like me who are curious about it all. It is long - perhaps too detailed, but then again I don't know that I'm the target audience so my perception could be off.
I will say yet again here is another book that scolds "helicopter parents," for supervising their kids and not allowing them to roam. I find this laughable when the rest of the book is a diatribe against screens...how are parents supposed to monitor what their kids are doing with screens if they're completely unsupervised? 🙄 I took off a whole star for this.
Overall probably 3.75 stars
May 30, 2023
I enjoyed this book; It offered a lot of information and study-based evidence of the damage to our brains, and especially kids brains, with even just a small amount of screen use. It was very eye opening. A big chunk of the book is about linking violent shows and games to real-life violence, which was less interesting to me. (Because I wouldn’t expose my children to that anyway.) it’s not surprising that the tech-school link is about money and NOT education - the author offered evidence here as well.
Overall, worth a read, especially if you allow your kids access to screens.
Overall, worth a read, especially if you allow your kids access to screens.
July 28, 2022
This is a little very interesting read for parents and teachers of today’s children! Technology sure is convenient, but what effects does it have on our kids? The author provides an informative discussion on the history of tech in society and lays out research demonstrating how tech affects the minds of us and our children.
There is a little bit of language here and there, and some parts are not meant for children’s eyes or ears!
There is a little bit of language here and there, and some parts are not meant for children’s eyes or ears!
June 26, 2022
This book is a must read for parents or adults working with children/teens! It's so important and we'll researched. I would recommend skipping the middle section case studies, they were way too intense and graphic, but the first third and last third of the book are excellent
April 7, 2023
A great warning about gaming and screens. Little growing brains were not meant to be subjected to flashing lights, quickly changing screens, or violence. Even innocent and educational screen time isn't healthy. Just because it's the way things are now, doesn't make it good. For every good thing about technology, we need to be wise enough to safeguard against the negative impacts.
July 11, 2020
A fairly comprehensive treatment of screen addiction in children as well as myriad of additional considerations. His point sometimes meanders, but it’s definitely well worth the read, and shouldn’t be taken lightly.
June 11, 2021
This book is so heavy with information, but written well enough to keep going. So many sources, so many reasons to keep the children away from tech. All parents and educators should read this book.
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