Dr. Nicholas Kardaras told the guests and audience on Monday's "Dr. Phil" that digital addiction is specifically dangerous because it is more ‘ubiquitous and socially accepted’ than regular drugs.
The episode cast a spotlight on how introducing children to handheld technology and social media at a young age can cause a downward spiral of dependency.
"I’ve been an addiction psychologist — I’ve treated crystal meth and heroin addiction for over 25 years before I got into understanding this new generation of addiction," Dr. Kardaras said. "And I often say that I find this more challenging to treat than heroin addiction simply for the reason that it’s so much more ubiquitous and socially accepted and harder to live without."
He told parents that ultimately preventing an addiction from happening in the first place is the best response.
"So that’s why what I recommend to most parents is – this is a classic example of an ounce of prevention and a pound of cure – delay, delay, delay, as much as you can, your children accessing these really powerful, harmful devices," he said.
He went on to tell parents that a great way to keep kids away from digital addiction is by getting them involved in real-world extracurricular activities, "countervailing activities are a big part of the fight against this," he said. "Keep your kids engaged in sports and music and other kinds of activities that can potentially insulate them — what I talk about, a psychological immune system — build up their psychological immune system, so they’re less vulnerable to the toxic messaging."
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Dr. Phil observed that teenage years are a major growth period where teens start to assert their independence as growing adults, and that one can tailor their message to youth that phones are controlling their lives.
"'Let me give you a little insight here. You’re being manipulated. So if you think you’re exercising your independence by doing this, using these phones and doing it in the way you’re doing it, you’re not,'" he said. "'You’re just playing right into their hands,' and sometimes if we can educate them to that, they might rebel against that."
Dr. Kardaras agreed, "That’s the most effective strategy that I’ve used with some of my clients, is to show them exactly how they’re being manipulated, get them angry about that, and that's when they push back and try to take ownership of their life back."
