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

by Nicholas Kardaras

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.

In Digital Madness, Dr. Kardaras answers the question of why young people’s mental health is deteriorating as we become a more technologically advanced society. While enthralled with shiny devices and immersed in Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, Facebook and Snapchat, our young people are struggling with record rates of depression, loneliness, anxiety, overdoses and suicide. What’s driving this mental health epidemic? Our immersion in toxic social media has created polarizing extremes of emotion and addictive dependency, while also acting as a toxic "digital social contagion”, spreading a variety of psychiatric disorders.

The algorithm-fueled polarity of social media also shapes the brain's architecture into inherently pathological and reactive "black and white" thinking—toxic for politics and society, but also symptomatic of several mental disorders. Digital Madness also examines how the profit-driven titans of Big Tech have created our unhealthy tech-dependent sedentary, screen-staring, addicted, depressed, isolated and empty—all in the pursuit of increased engagement, data mining and monetization.

But there is a solution. Dr. Kardaras offers a path out of our crisis, using examples from classical philosophy that encourage resilience, critical thinking and the pursuit of sanity-sustaining purpose in people’s lives. Digital Madness is a crucial book for parents, educators, therapists, public health professionals, and policymakers who are searching for ways to restore our young people’s mental and physical health.

Genres: Nonfiction, Technology, Psychology, Self Help, Mental Health, Audiobook, Parenting

273 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 13, 2022

About the author

Dr. 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.

Reviews

[Lindsay Nixon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is mostly a wash with severe identity problems and no real depth.

I'm rating it 3-stars because there are two (possibly) three good/fascinating/intellectual non-fiction chapters (chapters 3 and 4). They should be podcast episodes or mini documentaries. Or the start of another attempt at this book.

After reading An Ugly Truth: Inside Facebook's Battle for Domination (5-stars, highly recommend) I thought I knew every dark side to Facebook and Instagram, but I did not. I also found the chapter on social contagion fascinating. While I knew about the "contagiousness" of suicides (and arguably, school shootings), the author went further with this, discussing a phenomenon I hadn't heard of (TikTok "causing" "tourettes") which was fascinating (and alarming), and some other examples.

The first 23% is boring, unsolicited memoir dribble. If I've picked up a non-fiction book about social media, I want to read about THAT topic. Not about your Dad, your son, what you did during Covid. I don't mind a little backstory or why the author wrote this book or what his or her qualifications are, but this was excessive. Worse still, we have to go into his memoir again in chapter 9. I found this particularly amusing because the preceding chapters were all about narcissism and hubris (and how tech giants are all narcissist). I think the word here is irony.

After "the two good chapters" (possibly 3), the author continues to discuss social media but it's less scientific and factual and more ranty. He isn't directly ranty, it just feels very... opinionated. I don't necessarily disagree with his opinions, skepticism, or unease around "Meta" (I am long convinced all social media is deadly and harmful) it simply doesn't rise to the level of previous chapters and non-fiction standards.

The last part of the book seems to leave social media altogether. First he summarizes several popular non-fiction books, many of which I love and recommend, such as The Upside of Stress: Why Stress Is Good for You, and How to Get Good at It and an antifragility book whose exact title is escaping me.

Then he lightly slams Brene Brown and Bessel van der Kolk (The Body Keeps Score); saying that not everything is trauma (some adversity, including in childhood, is necessary, it's chronic or too much or severe adversity that is the problem) and that shame shouldn't be a boogeyman; that shame has some utility because it helps us dismantle negative loops and make changes. This is provocative and he's not incorrect, but it was such a quick point. Not only did not not really belong in THIS book, it needed substantial more discussion, depth, and supportive research and where possible, illustrative examples.

THEN we go sideways into discussions and religions and ancient blah blah. He lost me there. I tried, I really did. I even have a degree in the classics... but again, I WANTED TO BE READING ABOUT THE HARMS OF SOCIAL MEDIA not plato. So I "Gave up" around 93%

THE WORST PART of this mess, is that, like so many others, the author gives NOTHING actionable.

To be super clear: The book lacks immediate takeaways, so if you are looking how to insulate or inoculate yourself or your kids from the harms of social media, this is not your book. He never even bravely states succinctly “social media is harmful” even though that’s the point of his book.

He also never gets to "how to restore our sanity" at least not directly. You can pull out from the text that we need belonging, community, and friends (all in REAL LIFE). This is old news.

He also bases this off his own experience--he was a user and got sober (and much happier) in AA. I happen to LOVE most 12-step programs and think they are beneficial for most people. There are also numerous independent studies on their efficacy, as well as the efficacy as in-person support groups. That being said, something a little more than his experience needs to be presented and it should be stated more clearly.

I was also deeply amused that he was so critical of large cities and saying they cause depression. We are both from NYC and while he felt "lost in a sea of uncaring people" I have a total opposite experience. I feel more alive, looked out for, loved, seen, and "part of something" when I am home. He cried about being in a subway and everyone minding their own business. I love this and take it as a respect.

Even the buildings themselves feel like a security blanket or a nice hug. Perhaps our different experiences or perceptions boils down to our difference in mental models or mental health. Ironically he talks about this in a later chapter but doesn't seem to notice he isn't applying it to himself there LOL.

Great narrator, however.

Thanks netgalley for my ARC.

[Lauren · Rating 1 out of 5]

Social worker here, I am so annoyed by how poorly executed this book was. The book shifts from a researched discussion of the titled topic to Kardaras ranting about his personal beliefs to a history of big tech, finally back to Kardaras ranting about his personal beliefs again. While I know this isn't an academic text, I found his snark and condescending comments obnoxious and distracting.

The shame is that the impact of social media on mental health is an important discussion we need to be having, but Kardaras uses this book to push his personal beliefs instead of actually talking about the titular issue. He has his narrative and completely ignores anything that doesn't fit his narrative. Is social media and tech usage having negative impacts on our health? Absolutely. Is it literally the only variable? Absolutely not. Kardaras ignores or glosses over things like climate change, structural and historic racism, capitalism, poverty... sometimes he comes so close to connecting these dots, but he never does. He then rants about what he thinks big tech leaders want and what he thinks is the best fix.

I DNF'ed close to the end bc I was sick of listening to his drivel. Again, the topics he touches on are important, especially tech colonialism, but he does so incredibly poorly. He also cites a debunked and highly criticized research article about trans adolescents without including any trans adolescent perspectives. For someone so angry about paternalistic therapists, he certainly is a paternalistic, mansplaining psychologist. I'm over it and will seek actual information elsewhere.

Check out Screen Schooled for a better read on this topic.

[Nick Hansen · Rating 1 out of 5]

The worst book I have read all year. I wanted to like it, and the author is passionate about the subject, but this book is unfocused, under-researched, and full of snipey editorializing that does nothing to help the authors cause.

- This book’s title is misleading. It should be titled “How screens are driving our mental health crisis.”

- The author just had to make dozens of zingers in each chapter. It got old quick.

- There are so many people and things here who catch strays: e-sports, Mark Zuckerburg, Brene Brown, college philosophy professors, and so much more. He’s all over the place

- There are about six different books here and the author only dogs surface deep into all of the subjects. Some are better than others, but I had to roll my eyes when he goes after safe spaces and trigger warnings.

- He also goes after modern therapy, which should have been a book in of itself. But he compares the growth of the industry to how childbirth was originally a community-experience but doctors eventually took it over. Child birth was better in the 700s, really? Come on.

-The best chapter was on the social contagion theory.

-He ends with a manifesto on how he overcame addiction and embraced the “philosopher warrior” lifestyle. However his “tips” at the end were fine, but after reading a whole book all i got was “take a walk in the morning.” Really?

-I much preferred “Stolen Focus” by Johann Hari

[Morgan Pope · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is taking a crack at shining a light on a subject that most people, for the sake of comfort, would rather sweep under the rug. I will agree with some of the more negative reviews, in that there does seem to be redundancy throughout the book. However, the author is clearly passionate about the topic, and there's a lot of correlation between the chapters. In regards to this being underresearched, I'd have to disagree. The author cites many statistics and provides several examples to back up his claims. There are several portions of this book that I feel could each be extrapolated upon as the subject of an entire book, but for the sake of Kardaras's argument, I can understand why it had to be condensed. Personally, I liked that Kardaras wove his own experiences into the last part of the book. There are real people behind the content we consume, whether it's social media, or a book. His story ties in to address why this is a topic he felt was worth writing about, and the narrative is better for it in my opinion. All in all, the book is worth reading for the several questions it poses that will have you questioning things you've become numb to.

[Renee]

First of all, I listened to the audiobook. Listening to a book like this instead of physically reading it can change the experience, and I think if I had the ability to skim past some of the parts that I would label as passionate rhetoric for its own sake/preaching to the choir, I would have been able to enjoy and extract more information from this book.

I will not apply a star rating because I mean no disrespect to the author's work, research and experience. But I would not recommend this book. Let's go into why.

The book is divided into a few parts: the first is proving we have an exploit point as a species (dopamine addiction) and it is being exploited by tech in a way that it's never been exploited before. I would call this the Wake Up Sheeple section. The second part is more or less demonstrating how yes it really is tech and our lives are falling apart. I would call this the Know Thy Enemy For It Is Tech section. And then the call to action is more or less: put down your phone and go outside and connect with real people because critical thinking and reconnecting to our former selves is the solution to earth's mental pollution. I would call this the: Oh God Not Again section.

And herein lies my chief issue with a number of the books and publications put out in the world on the topic of the problem of digital addictions: they are loaded with lazy rhetoric and confirmation bias, even when they touch on interesting and awesome points. Do you remember when Al Franken wrote a book called "Rush Limbaugh Is A Big Fat Idiot?" I think I read that book when I was 17, and I had heard of Rush Limbaugh but I'd never listened to his show. So the first part of the book, about the fact checking and the experience that Franken went through discovering that there was no fact checking - that was shocking and interesting and problematic. But then the next chapter was all "Rush Limbaugh is so fat that..." which I neither knew nor cared and also c'mon man, we're too old to be making fun of fat people. And the rest of the book wasn't even about Limbaugh. Because the point of the book was to poke fun because the people who were going to buy that book already agreed with the premise of the book and were looking to be entertained.

So I was interested to learn about the Werther effect. (Did you know that men in Europe read Goethe's Sorrows of Young Werther and the message resonated with them so much that there were multiple suicides? Italy banned the book! We have always been susceptible to resonating messages and even more so when we feel alienated and trapped. That's fascinating and relevant!) The concept of labeling this as a social contagion and reinforcing that there is an inherent challenge in mass and immediate spread of information for a species that learns primarily by observation and mimicking. Yikes. What a powerful point! I was interested at some of the observations about the echo chamber - which is so much worse than just an echo chamber and which Mr. Kardaras does a great job of demonstrating - of social media feeds and personalized home pages from services like Google. I was interested in what was said about copy cat syndrome. And the overall concept of being stuck in a dopamine cage - what a gorgeous way to define phone addiction.

But these details are hidden between literal hours of 'my dad said put down your phone Niko,' and 'school shootings are a social contagion spread by the internet' which is a powerful statement but I want more data than anecdote, sir! and 'Mark Zuckerberg deserves nicknames like Zuck and a lot of derision' and 'I guess Sergey Brin just wanted to back up the money truck'. It's not that I'm sure it's not enjoyable for someone who is outraged and also wants to keep being outraged and agreed with - but that's also one of the behaviors that the book criticizes tech companies for exploiting!

Outrage is a luxury that when indulged costs the author integrity as well as converts to the cause. This book has more outrage than information. Just like when I spent an hour going down a TikTok rabbit hole, after 8 hours of listening - I didn't feel like I got a good return on my investment of time. Style over substance. Which is a shame because when the style and outrage is stripped away, the substance is fascinating. Onwards to Nicholas Carr's book on the same subject. Here's hoping it's got a higher signal to noise ratio.

[Melanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not sure if I like this book more or less than Glow Kids, which I read a mere month ago. It feels a lot more jumbled and internally redundant. I really can't figure out the author's purpose (maybe to encourage people to find an inner sense of purpose?).

There is a lot of alarmism, a lot of editorializing (some of which I agreed with and some of which I did not), a fair amount of neuroscience and a bit more "personal history" than I personally cared to read about. A chapter that veers into gossip territory about the motivations of Zuck/Gates/Bezos, and not too much of a call for action. The upshot is that people will be miserable without a sense of inner purpose, and social media does not provide that. Also, a strong local community is necessary for mental health, but the current push to have everything online erodes that necessary physical closeness. He tears into the mental health industry, that therapists like to pathologize everything and insist that a person cannot get better without a therapist, who is a "paid friend" at best and a "paid rat" at worst. Not sure that I agree with that entirely, but do believe that "trauma" is a bit oversold in the mental health world these days (as is "gender dysphoria" and "neurodivergence," but I digress).

His actionable suggestions are basically to become a philosopher/warrior/artist in order to internally fortify yourself, which kind of reminds me of Cal Newport's suggestions in "Digital Minimalism." I suppose he also suggested not using social media, or using less of it, but no real actionable suggestions about like, breaking up tech corps or guidance on how to recreate local community or groups that exist outside of the internet sphere. No suggestions on how to improve the ethics of creating technology products or harvesting raw materials, or now to recycle outdated equipment (though in fairness, some of that is beyond the scope of this book).

[Jolène Fender · Rating 4 out of 5]

4⭐️ - Book 22 of 60 for 2022's reading challenge

From the author of provocative "Glow Kids", Dr. Nicholas Kardaras where he first declared screen time "digital heroin". Now in Digital Madness, he turns his attention to our teens and young adults and looks at the mental health impact of tech addiction and corrosive social media.

He brings forth a long list of well researched facts and statistics on the impact of the last 8 years of Big Tech's algorithms that is also acting as a digital social contagion and influencing us to think less and less critically.

From interesting facts such as - most big tech executives are strict when it comes to their own children having phones and access to social media and instead choose to send them to Waldorf type schools to offering solutions out of our crisis. This is a book that parents, educators and therapists should take time to read or listen.

Knocked a star purely because its utterly depressing.

[Libriar · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Kardaras explores a very important topic in this book but ultimately includes too much and doesn't necessarily wrap it up in a useful/practical way. As a parent and educator, I was hoping for a book with more immediate takeaways - this isn't that book. I listened to this book and don't have a table of contents to refer back to the chapters that I found most interesting/relevant to me but I think it was chapter 3 about the Social Contagion Effect that I thought was the strongest. The book as a whole had good information, I just think there's an opportunity to take this content and edit it for parents and educators. The audiobook narrator was a good match for the content of the book. Advanced Listener Copy courtesy of Libro.FM.

[Melanie Uggen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very well written.

[Basma Aal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every body should be reading this book

[Mama K · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though they probably won't heed a word if it, everyone needs this book! They desperately need to understand how total immersion in social media is manipulating their very lives and leaving them slaves to the cash cow of its inventors.
I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

[Kateryna Maw · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is an awe-inspiring book! I was so shocked by all the research that was presented and learned tons of helpful information as of how to shape our own family life around technology!
I was humbled to learn about author's own addition and wrecked life, and how he persevered - so inspiring for all! Great read!

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Social media has some dark underpinnings that we should think about. Discussions range from mental health, political polarization, the risks of artificial general intelligence and the living conditions of factory workers or miners who produce our technology.

Further encouragement to get outside, read a book, engage in interesting conversations in real life and develop some passions.

[Liz Breen · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am someone for whom this book should have deeply resonated, given I quit social media and am raising my young kids screen-free, but lord, the writing is awful. Over-the-top, dramatic language sadly undercuts some very real societal problems.

[Ella Horne · Rating 1 out of 5]

“How’s that iPhone feel in your hand now?”

Well, Nick, it doesn’t feel bad at all given that I DON’T HAVE AN IPHONE. Or an android. Or a smartphone of any kind.

I’m giving this one star on principle. I always give books like this one star when they fail to suggest the most obvious solution: ditch your smartphone and delete your social media accounts—if not having a smartphone doesn’t solve your social media addiction.

Dr. Kardaras’s writing is a particularly egregious example of the aforementioned. How could you have such insight, yet completely miss the mark when it comes to the obvious solution?

Big Tech will NEVER add features to their platforms or devices that will make them less addictive. It’s bad for their bottom line, and when you’re raking in billions, why would you ever do anything that’s bad for your bottom line? You wouldn’t. People who say that big tech companies need to take measures to make their products less addicting at the expense of their profit margins clearly haven’t had the distinct displeasure of dealing with insurance companies.

We can’t trust Big Tech to protect us. We need to be the ones to protect ourselves. And it seems like Kardaras is aware of this. But when it comes to a solution, all he offers is mindfulness and philosophy.

Ah, yes, lemme just mindfully engage with this product that was intentionally designed to exploit psychological vulnerabilities to keep me using this product as much as possible.

If you’re a Dave Ramsey fan, you’ve heard his rant about “responsible credit card users”. Many people object to Dave Ramsey’s anti-credit card stance by saying, “I use a credit card for the rewards points and I pay it off every month and never pay interest.”

Dave’s response? “It doesn’t matter.” Ramsey reasons that, even though you might pay it off every month, credit card companies are still winning. These companies spend big bucks marketing their products to consumers, scheming up ways to get you to spend more money. As a consumer, you don’t stand a chance against big credit card companies. You think you’re getting one over on them due to your rewards points, but you’re not. Statistically speaking, Dave’s right: people tend to spend more when they use a credit card than they do when their paying cash. The only way to make sure you don’t fall into this trap is to pay with cash and ditch your credit card.

The same is true for smartphones and social media platforms. These companies spend far more money than most people can even conceptualize on making their products as addictive as possible. Abstinence is the only solution.

I currently have an internet connection because I work remotely (hybrid remote) and I have an Instagram account (because I ironically work in marketing and contribute to our social media marketing). The day I retire, I will be deactivating my Instagram account and getting rid of my internet connection. I can’t wait.

Despite the one star review, I give Kardaras’s writing and insight five stars. I will be recommending this book to many, many people.

[Esther Huang · Rating 5 out of 5]

During high school, I was assigned to read "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley. My teenage brain receptors were fried out with all the constant stimulation from Myspace, Facebook, and video games, but thankfully whatever I had left was only mustered through a love of reading. However, I remember thinking how startling our reality was starting to look like the book written in 1932 about the dystopian future.

Our constant pursuit of pleasure was as simple as popping a soma (drugs, social media, addictions), prioritizing the pursuit of orgy porgies (I mean, pleasure), and avoiding pain... we are that culture now. As Nicholas writes, we are too dulled by the onslaught of our tech obsession to realize that we are in cages.

Not only that but there are some concerning trends that social media usage is leading to. Hijacking young minds when they're in their most formative stage and leading them to become dependent on dopamine likes that are artificial by nature, or veer into antisocial tendencies and even violence is so alarming.

Note this, a select few technological companies have a monopoly over the attention of over 2.9 BILLION people worldwide. How sinister would it be for these monoliths to start influencing the masses through curated, distracting and abusive content? What could AI come to, when it's way smarter than its predecessors? What could be the end goal of all this? Are they trying to play God and flirt with immortality someday? These were just some of the points raised in the book that got me thinking quite a bit.

This book was really insightful. The author himself went through his own Hero's Journey. He was in the depths of darkness with a near-death experience and emerged with his insight to guide others and break free. I really enjoyed this book, and the many references that the author draws upon from other literary works made it a delight to read. Of course, perhaps some of his advice errs on tough love, but as someone who is interested in Stoicism and ancient philosophy, it couldn't come at a better time.

As someone who grew up in this saturated media age as a young child and battled with so many addictions that come with this era for so many years, I am simply tired of it. I am ready to wage war upon the battle for our attention and start to live life, and in alignment with the truth and highest values instead of passively consuming from mainstream society all the time.
Highly, highly recommend this wonderful, thought-provoking book.

[Sophia Jodoin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had to read this for school but that’s not why I hated it! First the author does not present statistics and data well and makes a lot of correlations that are not well cited nor statistically accurate. The first entire half of the book I really tried to give him the benefit of the doubt seeing as he’s a professional in his field but his lack of citation and proper support of his argument really irritates me. I will agree I think that the rich tech billionaires are an issue and the amount of data and time spent on social media is harming us but his argument was not formed well and it comes across as him just shitting all over things he doesn’t like while ignoring other confounding variables. I also don’t think it’s fair to just shit all over Gen Z for being on social media when our parents are the ones who gave it to us and chose to put us in front of screens rather than be present but is that mentioned anywhere in this book? No.

I would have dnf once I hit part two if I didn’t have to write a book report on this. He then goes on to shit all over Brené Brown (which I wouldn’t necessarily say I’m a super fan of but her work has helped me in the past to move through certain feelings and emotions about situations) and “The Body Keeps a Score” both very influential and well cited works within the therapy/mental health community. He essentially says that those who have experienced trauma are better off without therapy and as someone with PTSD, NO IM NOT!!!! He also contradicts himself throughout the book but this part specifically really got me. He says society needs to be the right amount of traumatized and then also says that too many people think they are traumatized when they aren’t and in the most invalidating way ever acts as if trauma survivors are claiming ptsd because their parents didn’t buy them a toy they wanted.

I find it a shame because social medias effects on mental health need to be talked about but for the love of God can we stop writing about it and talking about it as if it’s our fault or Gen Z or from a we need to go back in time POV?! Can someone please propose a solution that is actually helpful as how to move forward with what we’ve got? And how do we reach and save the younger generations who ARE dying at faster rates of s**cide than ever before?!

The rest I’ll save for my book report but unless you want to read something that will just be an example of how not to address this issue don’t f’ing bother.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed Glow Kids by this author a few years ago, and I felt he made a lot of great points in this book as well. Everyone needs to know screens can increase depression, anxiety, ADHD, etc. I thought it was very interesting how he connected social media with binary, black-and-white thinking, and I believe he's right about that. The chapter on borderline personality disorder and kids exhibiting pseudo-disorders based on the videos they watch and other social media they consume was disconcerting, but people need to know this stuff. The information about dopamine and social media platforms wanting to make you angry because that keeps you engaged on their platforms needs to be known by everyone so people know they are being sucked in and used. The chapter about how therapy can sometimes be harmful when it causes people to relive bad moments in their lives over and over was very interesting, or the part about how people with stronger support systems, family, friends, etc. were less likely to develop depression, and that depression isn't caused by one event, but rather chronic stress over a long period of time before a tipping point happens. An eye-opener for me was that we really need community and socialization. I knew that, but reading about it really resonated with me and is spurring me on to be a bit more social. It was interesting how much power social media has over people, and that's not a good thing. People need to be able to think for themselves. It was also interesting to read about how when one person does something extreme that isn't considered socially acceptable, that lowers the bar and more people feel they can do the action that is socially unacceptable as well.

Where I felt the author missed the mark is where people can find true meaning. He wrote on a few different occasions that the blue-zone areas usually have religion, but for the author, he went on a lot about Plato. I don't believe he ever mentioned Jesus in his book. My Christian faith has been what has gotten me through all the difficult parts of my life, and what has given me peace and hope during tumultuous times. I was saddened that the author never mentioned Jesus.

[David Stephens · Rating 3 out of 5]

By now, it should come as no surprise to anyone that social media has a myriad of detrimental effects, from reducing attention spans to enhancing feelings of isolation to perverting incentives away from doing what’s right toward doing what’s popular to allowing data to be harvested and sold to exploitative third parties to reducing physical activity and overall health. So if you’re looking for an overview of those issues by an author who was quick to ring the alarm years ago, this book does a fine job.

But, at this point, my real measures of how successful a book like this is are whether it tells us anything new and whether (from my best estimation) it would wake up those most vulnerable to the screen’s soporific glow. And I’m afraid it falters in both of these regards.

To be sure, there are some helpful parts. I learned more about how antitrust laws have changed and how the Big Tech companies have monopolized the field. I learned more about the history of social contagions and how certain web phenomena, including those that can induce medical problems, are only the latest in a long trend of unconscious mimicry. And I’ll admit I got a small rush of dopamine every time the author criticized the vapidity and brashness of online culture.

I found myself nodding to statements like the following: “Neuroscientists know that the way we process information–either by reading or via visual media, or nonverbal cues–shapes the way our brains ‘think’ and function.” What this says to me is that when I hear my students complain a short story is too long and repetitive, what they’re really saying is that they’ve been trained to learn things in short sound bites, texts, or memes only. Any kind of nuance or subtle complexity an author might develop is just noise.

But, really, for anyone who is already concerned with these issues, most of this information has been out there for years. And the author–despite his continual jokes and pop culture references–isn’t a compelling enough writer to stick the landing on his main arguments. So, by the end, it feels like he’s preaching to no one but the already converted.

[Nicholas Lightner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kardaras does a great job of identifying the problems that social media, and even modern-day technology, pose for our civilization. Our mental health, philosophical purpose, and political systems are in jeopardy, and the author dives into the explanations well. The problem, however, lies in the formatting of the solutions. Yes, the natural way to solve our problems is to put our phones and gadgets down, dive deep into our philosophical purposes of life, and come back to reality in creating healthier selves. This would be a great argument if the problem were individually based. For example, even if you do find your way back to the old school thought of living, connecting with nature, and finding purpose, how do you escape the rat race that capitalism creates, engulfing not only individual people but society at large to a digital landscape tying our economy and social lives? How do young adults look for love or authentic, genuine connections in a world consumed by digital platforms and rank-based popularity contests? How do you one day own a home where making the most money requires (for the most part) producing and consuming digital content on platforms with harmful algorithms? Yes, walking away from the tech would be the best-case scenario for a better future. Still, my point is that it's easier said than done, considering the entire industrialized world is built and shaped around social media. It will soon be shaped by whatever the artificial intelligence revolution creates. As said earlier, though, if you want a read of identifying the issues that big tech creates (as well as fascinating philosophical discussions), then this book is a great read.

[Virginia · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

I think this book makes a lot of great points, brings up a lot of topics that are hardly covered in general (and need to be), and makes you think deeply about not just social media/screen use/technology but also how our world is right now. There’s a lot of subjects I’d like to explore further because of this book alone!

I will say the tone of this book can get pretty annoying here and there. It’s not throughout the whole book, but there’s quite a few passages (and almost the entire introduction) that have this “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore!” type energy. I’m not a big fan of that in nonfiction generally because it skews the subject negatively regardless of the topic or how it’s actually being presented.

I’ll also say the last chapter went a bit over my head because Greek philosophy can be confusing, but that’s my own problem.

Overall, I got more good out of this book than I expected, especially given the negative & neutral reviews. Initially I thought this book would be “all over the place” since it encompasses a lot of different topics at once, but I think the author intertwines them pretty well. The sections regarding mental illness were especially interesting to me.

[Nick James · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was very interested and intrigued at the start but as I got further and further I liked it less. This book is disjointed and strays so far from it s intended topic.
I really started to question things in chapter 5 after having to read “transgendered” several times. The content of this chapter isn’t bad but “transgendered” is not the right term (it’s transgender). The content was good (which I know is what’s important) but the language does matter and it surely someone in the process of this book should have noticed after reading it so many times.

There were also times where he was presenting information in a way that could be misleading about the subjects he claims to be an expert in.

Ultimately, Kardaras comes across as a philosopher or sociologist more than a psychologist by the end. I won’t get too into other issues as the other reviews have covered all of my other points.

Tl;dr: if you’re looking for a book that covers the content in its title, this isn’t the one.

[Michele Waggoner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow! I wish that every person would read this book. I don't even know where to begin as far as reviewing the material goes. This was truly eye-opening and only reinforced the legitimacy of a lot of the complex thoughts and feelings that I've been experiencing lately about modern-day technology, specifically about our dependency on cellphones and on large social media platforms. The power that these big tech companies have over our day to day lives is very frightening, and I don't think anyone can argue against the fact that our society is currently very addicted to mindless distractions. I hope that more people start to wake up and begin to question what the end goal of these large tech companies ultimately is.

[Stacy Sheehan · Rating 5 out of 5]

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

The more we educate ourselves and those we care about on this subject the better chance we all have of minimizing & repairing the damage our digital obsession promises. The author is passionate on the subject and what we can do about it. I applaud his effort!
This is an important work.

[Katie Stein · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 The start of the book was amazing and so inspiring but I did kinda hate the last 2 chapters. Beyond therapy gave me the impression that he thought basically all therapy is a useless money-making business (which I agree with him that a CERTAIN amount is and that it is overutilized, and that community can do much of the same work as therapy can) and the general all-or-nothing mentality of this chapter really started to grate on me (including the petty name calling of some famous therapist authors who he seems to think have it all wrong). Then the philosopher-warrior brought in interesting insight but felt like a lot of philosophical dick wagging.

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really should have checked out the Goodreads reviews before borrowing this one from the library.

Not all of it was bad, there are some broad points that I generally agree with. But it presents itself as a nonfiction book about a topic and then has large portions of the book which feel like opinionated rants on barely related topics. I was listening to this in audiobook format so I wasn’t able to check into any citations deeply, but it was presented so poorly and again, so ill-fitting just in terms of the book’s structure.

Almost a DNF for me but I was close enough to the end that I just powered through. Other reviewers on the Goodreads page have covered the downsides in more depth.

[Ren · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love a good sociological text. While many of the observations weren't really new to me, there was plenty to keep me interested. I hadn't heard about the increase in tourette's like symptoms in young people watching videos of people with tourette's on social media. There are also interesting discussions around social media's impact on suicidal behavior, gender identity and more. The author does discuss ways to lessen the hold digital media has on us, but I felt there was more room left in this area. Overall, this was a great book and certainly thought-provoking.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the ALC in exchange for my honest review.

[Cassie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book seems a bit off topic and like there could be many books within it, however, I did find each thing he talked about insightful and interesting. These are important topics to think about in todays society and this was the first book that made me actually start thinking about it. But, I will probably have to read more books that portray certain topics throughout this book more thoroughly with more research behind them. Overall, it made me start thinking about my social medias and the negative behind them.

[Kira · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was genuinely very boring and seemed to lack focus.

Everything of value in this book was anecdotal- things I had heard before in no further depth with no further commentary.

The author is meandering and dry and frequently goes off on long spiraling tangents.

If I wanted to read about his personal history or the benefits of Pythagorean living I would have chosen a different book.

Man’s search for meaning through philosophy was not a topic I intended to read about when I chose this one.

The topic had potential but I gained nothing new from reading this.

[Mary · Rating 1 out of 5]

Audiobook. Chapters 1-5 were good, chapters 6-beyond was a lot of ranting. Oftentimes I found myself zoning off and wondering what does this all really have to do with digital madness. Kardaras made it very obvious several times he’s not for the big man, especially Zuckerberg (I get it, neither am I)- but I didn’t want to listen to a book about the people but of how we can better manage ourselves with digital media. Also too much philosophical nonsense. His interview on Allie Beth Stuckey’s podcast was better and I should’ve stuck with that.