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Ellis Dee
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Kids turn violent as parents battle 'digital heroin' addiction...
#23941342 - 12/19/16 07:09 PM (7 years, 1 month ago) |
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http://nypost.com/2016/12/17/kids-turn-violent-as-parents-battle-digital-heroin-addiction/

Kids turn violent as parents battle ‘digital heroin’ addiction
By Dr. Nicholas Kardaras
December 17, 2016 | 7:59pm
On August 28, The Post published a piece by Dr. Nicholas Kardaras,“The Frightening Effects of Digital Heroin,” that was based on his book “Glow Kids.” In it, he argued that young children exposed to too much screen time are at risk of developing an addiction “harder to kick than drugs.” The response was overwhelming, generating more than 3.3 million views on The Post’s website and hundreds of letters from anxious parents. Now Dr. Kardaras writes about this parental revolt against digital heroin and reminds readers of the worst effects of the obsession.
Experienced sailors, Barbara McVeigh and her husband exposed their children to the natural beauty near their home in Marin County, Calif. — boating, camping and adventuring in the great outdoors. None of this stopped her 9-year-old son from falling down the digital rabbit hole.
His first exposure to screens occurred in first grade at a highly regarded public school — named one of California’s “Distinguished Schools” — when he was encouraged to play edu-games after class. His contact with screens only increased during play dates where the majority of his friends played violent games on huge monitors in their suburban homes.
The results for Barbara’s son were horrific: Her sweet boy, who had a “big spirit” and loved animals, now only wanted to play inside on a device.
“He would refuse to do anything unless I would let him play his game,” she said. Barbara, who had discarded her TV 25 years ago, made the mistake of using the game as a bargaining tool.
Her son became increasingly explosive if she didn’t acquiesce. And then he got physical. It started with a push here, then a punch there. Frightened, she tried to take the device away. And that’s when it happened: “He beat the s–t out of me,” she told me.
When she tried to take his computer away, he attacked her “with a dazed look on his face — his eyes were not his.” She called the police. Shocked, they asked if the 9-year-old was on drugs.
He was — only his drugs weren’t pharmaceutical, they were digital.
In August, I wrote a piece about “digital heroin” for the New York Post, and the response was explosive. More than 3 million readers devoured and shared the piece — though not everyone agreed on its message. Some readers felt that the notion of comparing screens and video games to heroin was a huge exaggeration.
I understand that initial response, but the research says otherwise. Over 200 peer-reviewed studies correlate excessive screen usage with a whole host of clinical disorders, including addiction. Recent brain-imaging research confirms that glowing screens affect the brain’s frontal cortex — which controls executive functioning, including impulse control — in exactly the same way that drugs like cocaine and heroin do. Thanks to research from the US military, we also know that screens and video games can literally affect the brain like digital morphine.
In a series of clinical experiments, a video game called “Snow World” served as an effective pain killer for burned military combat victims, who would normally be given large doses of morphine during their painful daily wound care. While the burn patient played the seemingly innocuous virtual reality game “Snow World” — where the player attempts to throw snowballs at cartoon penguins as they bounce around to Paul Simon music — they felt no pain.
I interviewed Lt. Sam Brown, one of the pilot participants in this research who had been injured by an IED in Afghanistan and who had sustained life-threatening third-degree burns over 30 percent of his body. When I asked him about his experience using a video game for pain management, he said: “I was a little bit skeptical. But honestly, I was willing to try anything.” When asked what it felt like compared to his morphine treatments, he said, “I was for sure feeling less pain than I was with the morphine.”

Sure enough, brain imaging research confirmed that burn patients who played “Snow World” experienced less pain in the parts of their brain associated with processing pain than those treated with actual morphine.
The Navy’s head of addiction research, Cmdr. Dr. Andrew Doan, calls screens “digital pharmakeia” (Greek for pharmaceuticals), a term he coined to explain the neurobiological effects produced by video technologies.
While this is a wonderful advance in pain-management medicine, it begs the question: Just what effect is this digital drug — a narcotic more powerful than morphine — having on the brains and nervous systems of 7-year-olds addicted to their glowing screens?
‘I feel like there is a war going on against our children. And it’s come so fast that we’re not even questioning it.’
If screens are indeed digital drugs, then schools have become drug dealers. Under misguided notions that they are “educational,” the entire classroom landscape has been transformed over the past 10 years into a digital playground that includes Chromebooks, iPads, Smart Boards, tablets, smartphones, learning apps and a never-ending variety of “edu-games.”
These so-called “edu-games” are digital Trojan horses — chock-full of the potential for clinical disorders. We’ve already seen ADHD rates explode by over 50 percent the past 10 years as a whole generation of screen-raised kids succumb to the malaise-inducing glow. Using hyper-stimulating digital content to “engage” otherwise distracted students creates a vicious and addictive ADHD cycle: The more a child is stimulated, the more that child needs to keep getting stimulated in order to hold their attention.
Research also indicates that retention rates are lower on screens than on paper and that schools without electronics report higher test scores. And then there’s Finland. A standard bearer of international excellence in education, Finland rejected screens in the classroom. According to Krista Kiuru, their minister of education and science, Finnish students didn’t need laptops and iPads to get to the top of the international education rankings and aren’t interested in using them to stay there.
Yet in the US, there is a national effort to give kids screens at younger and younger ages as parents worry that their little ones may somehow be “left behind” in the education technology arms race — the data be damned.
But not all parents are drinking the screens-are-wonderful Kool-Aid — some are fighting back.
Cindy Eckard, a Maryland mother of two, is launching a grassroots campaign to create legislation to limit screen time in schools and is testifying in front of a state Senate subcommittee hearing this month.
“I was shocked to learn that the Maryland State Department of Education had no medically sound health guidelines in place before they put so many of our children in front of a computer every day . . . The schools keep encouraging more screen time in the classroom without any regard for our children’s well-being,” Eckard told me. “Our children are owed a safe classroom environment, and right now they’re not getting one.”
Some parents are opting out of public schools for less technology-dependent schools. Many Silicon Valley engineers and executives, for example, put their kids in non-tech Waldorf schools.
Others, like longtime educator and consultant Debra Lambrecht, have decided to create new tech-free school models. Debra has created the Caulbridge School, a distinctly “Finnish-style” school that is intended to serve as a template for future schools throughout the country.
“The argument for technology in the earlier grades is often rooted in the fear of children falling behind. It is true that most children will use technology in their jobs and everyday life. It is also true that most children will learn to drive a car,” Lambrecht said. “Certainly we would not give a 7-year-old child the car keys to give them a jump-start to be a more skillful driver. In the same way, we want to ensure children can effectively use technology as a tool and will bring all of their best thinking, creativity and innovation to bear.”
A Long Island mother recently contacted me because her 5-year-old son in kindergarten was going to be forced by the school to use an iPad. When she complained and threatened to pull her son out of school, her school district threatened to call child protective services. I spoke to her school’s superintendent, and he agreed to let her son opt out of using an iPad. But all the other kindergartners still need to use iPads for standardized-testing purposes. That Long Island mother has already reached out to her local legislators.
-------------------- "If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do."-King Solomon And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,
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Konyap

Registered: 06/30/07
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Re: Kids turn violent as parents battle 'digital heroin' addiction... [Re: Ellis Dee]
#23941439 - 12/19/16 07:34 PM (7 years, 1 month ago) |
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just kill yourselves
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klhouse



Registered: 12/12/15
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Re: Kids turn violent as parents battle 'digital heroin' addiction... [Re: Konyap] 1
#23941492 - 12/19/16 07:46 PM (7 years, 1 month ago) |
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Fucking weak parents these days. They argue and beg and debate and negotiate with kids.
-------------------- Shroomery mycologist definitely know their shit. Knowledge talks. Wisdom listens.
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Sheekle
FREE BURKE



Registered: 01/11/10
Posts: 53,153
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Re: Kids turn violent as parents battle 'digital heroin' addiction... [Re: klhouse] 3
#23941499 - 12/19/16 07:48 PM (7 years, 1 month ago) |
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I used to be severely addicted to video games about 10 years back, I've never been a heroin addict but it truly affected my personality and relationships
-------------------- "Ur cat died because he hated u" - Koods "I hope JSB kicks your ass one day." - Vandago "you are the biggest 'internet guy' I have ever come across"- Jokeshopbeard "The more I see you post the more I realize you're just this fuckin tie dye loser who trolls the Shroomery 24/7." - Herbologist "Sheekle you cannot vile the dice of bullshit you have posted on this forum over the years, I like databases" - thelastoneleft "or maybe i just come from a blood line of superior intelligence" - trees R.I.P Kelsy, ?/?/?? - 6/11/16
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Dr. Funtime
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Re: Kids turn violent as parents battle 'digital heroin' addiction... [Re: Ellis Dee] 1
#23941500 - 12/19/16 07:49 PM (7 years, 1 month ago) |
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This is the stupidest thing I have read in a long long time. Highlights include: "this digital drug — a narcotic more powerful than morphine" "there is a war going on against our children" "He would refuse to do anything unless I would let him play his game" followed by in her own words getting the shit beat out of her by a 9 year old. There is no way this is a shit parent, it must be video games aka digital heroin.
Then there is this great analogy: "It is also true that most children will learn to drive a car,” Lambrecht said. “Certainly we would not give a 7-year-old child the car keys to give them a jump-start to be a more skillful driver"
OH NO MECHANICAL HEROIN!!!!
What an insane article.
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Dr. Funtime
Wipes Sideways

Registered: 02/04/13
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Re: Kids turn violent as parents battle 'digital heroin' addiction... [Re: Sheekle]
#23941520 - 12/19/16 07:53 PM (7 years, 1 month ago) |
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Quote:
Sheekle said: I used to be severely addicted to video games about 10 years back, I've never been a heroin addict but it truly affected my personality and relationships
Were you bed ridden for a week if you stopped playing games? And were you incapable of feeling pleasure for years following cessation of playing? Did you play video games until you lost an arm to a blood infection then kept playing anyway because you couldn't stop?
Go read a bit about opioid addiction then come marvel in the fear mongering garbage that is this article.
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durian_2008
Cornucopian Eating an Elephant



Registered: 04/02/08
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Re: Kids turn violent as parents battle 'digital heroin' addiction... [Re: Dr. Funtime]
#23941659 - 12/19/16 08:34 PM (7 years, 1 month ago) |
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Quote:
Dr. Funtime said: Go read a bit about opioid addiction then come marvel in the fear mongering garbage that is this article.
(misquoted) Public Service Announcement --
"A (digital) heroin overdose may cause serious, harmful symptoms, or even death..."
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durian_2008
Cornucopian Eating an Elephant



Registered: 04/02/08
Posts: 16,693
Loc: Raccoon City
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Re: Kids turn violent as parents battle 'digital heroin' addiction... [Re: durian_2008] 1
#23941711 - 12/19/16 08:51 PM (7 years, 1 month ago) |
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These kids believe that Youtubers and champion videogame players are set for life, if they can just work their way up the gaming circuit, that these online personalities have social skills, which will make them popular, in-person, and that Minecraft teaches you about actual job training, in pixelated blocks.
In all fairness to the author and OP, it is like trying to deprogram a cult member.
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WhyDidiDoThis
Bay Area Mushroom Collector


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Re: Kids turn violent as parents battle 'digital heroin' addiction... [Re: durian_2008] 1
#23941897 - 12/19/16 10:24 PM (7 years, 1 month ago) |
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Na i can see this as an issue. Truly. The endorphines released are no joke.
Kids are growing up, signing up for the miltary because of video games. Recruitment ADs all over Xbox live and the like. It is brainwashing... if you let it.
Video games are time consuming, brain distracting. Far from reality.
There is casual gaming and then there is too much.
Some kids cant stop.
Hell when i was younger, i logged 1000hrs+ on battlefield 3. Since i turned 19, 21 now, i haven't played a video game in years and the mental health and priority are definitely way more align.
So this article may be aimed at over sensitive parents, there is truth to this. Without any doubt. Strong electric drugs.
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Celestial Traveler
Random Observer



Registered: 03/03/11
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Loc: Idaho
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Re: Kids turn violent as parents battle 'digital heroin' addiction... [Re: Ellis Dee] 1
#23942234 - 12/20/16 01:14 AM (7 years, 1 month ago) |
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There are some video/computer games that are just really addictive...I think this parent is learning the hard way that drug addiction and addiction to other things are more similar than most people acknowledge. The truth is that drugs aren't bad, but addiction in general is bad, and a lot of people think certain addictions are ok or not as much of a problem as long as they don't pertain to drugs. This parent is learning the flaws in that idea the hard way, but it's a good thing that they're finally getting the perception change.
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WhyDidiDoThis
Bay Area Mushroom Collector


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Re: Kids turn violent as parents battle 'digital heroin' addiction... [Re: Celestial Traveler] 1
#23942243 - 12/20/16 01:26 AM (7 years, 1 month ago) |
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Addiction - "Anything that controls your thoughts."
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LuSiD enthusiast
Stranger

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Re: Kids turn violent as parents battle 'digital heroin' addiction... [Re: WhyDidiDoThis]
#23942363 - 12/20/16 03:34 AM (7 years, 1 month ago) |
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Buzzword machine is :barf: all over the internet again.
-------------------- I'm addicted to coke, weed, booze, ludes and speed. Not LSD, you can't get addicted to LSD, it was built by scientists. I ain't got no demons that gonna get woke. In erowid we trust. Just take your damn pills and don't ask any questions, you'll be fine.
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Connoisseur

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Re: Kids turn violent as parents battle 'digital heroin' addiction... [Re: Ellis Dee]
#23942368 - 12/20/16 03:37 AM (7 years, 1 month ago) |
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what the fuck is wrong with our world
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tealeaf
Just Touch It



Registered: 09/21/06
Posts: 2,907
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Re: Kids turn violent as parents battle 'digital heroin' addiction... [Re: Connoisseur] 1
#23942524 - 12/20/16 06:59 AM (7 years, 1 month ago) |
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Quote:
Connoisseur said: what the fuck is wrong with our world
I know right? Kids these days are all smoking the digital heroin and all Im trying to do is live in the woods
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MikeTesserect
Stranger


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Re: Kids turn violent as parents battle 'digital heroin' addiction... [Re: Ellis Dee]
#23942544 - 12/20/16 07:16 AM (7 years, 1 month ago) |
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I thought this was about kratom at first, but yea, they should be killing real people. Get them enlisted! A mountain landscape is way more addictive!
Edited by MikeTesserect (12/20/16 07:18 AM)
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Supachopped719
Stranger


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Re: Kids turn violent as parents battle 'digital heroin' addiction... [Re: MikeTesserect]
#23945715 - 12/21/16 10:34 AM (7 years, 1 month ago) |
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When the mom 'TRIED' to take his games away he attacked her???
Wait till he's at school. Get rid of the games. If he wants to be a bitch, let him be a bitch in the back yard so the whole block can see him bitchin out.
Problem solved.
-------------------- Real Eyes Realize Real Lies.
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WeAreMushroom
Ask Me About Bigfoot



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Re: Kids turn violent as parents battle 'digital heroin' addiction... [Re: Supachopped719] 2
#23945742 - 12/21/16 10:48 AM (7 years, 1 month ago) |
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I used to be hella addicted to video games as a kid. I guess that's what being a 90's kid was like. All I could think about 24/7 was how I was going to beat the next level of Super Mario 64 or staying up all night to play Pokémon. 
I was mentally stuck on video games from the age of like 6 or 7 until I hit 16 and tried mushrooms for the first time.
After I started taking psychedelics and smoking weed I became painfully aware that all my trophies and awards and in-game credits only existed in fake universes contained in my memory card. It was a sobering realization and I haven't played a video game in almost 6 years now. They just seem so pointless as soon as I turn them on. 
I'd much rather go plant some cacti seeds or inoculate some jars or work some hours at a shitty job so I can afford a bunch of tree bark for an extraction or another project. 
There's a whole world of infinitely variable experiences out there, and I can't lie to myself and pretend that talking to NPC's on Edler Scrolls games is anything like communicating with real people. I feel like I'm still more awkward around people than I should be because I spent so much time playing video games during my developmental years instead of socializing with people.
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rider420
Ghost in the machine


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Re: Kids turn violent as parents battle 'digital heroin' addiction... [Re: WeAreMushroom] 1
#23949642 - 12/22/16 04:50 PM (7 years, 1 month ago) |
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Anything fun is addictive, people used to worry about the harmful nature of kids rolling a hoop down the street.
I feel sorry for anyone who gives up what they like because others don't, enjoy life including radio, movies, video games and even drugs. 
Mark Twain: "nothing is more in need of reform then other peoples habits".
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Visionary Tools



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Re: Kids turn violent as parents battle 'digital heroin' addiction... [Re: rider420]
#23950047 - 12/22/16 08:05 PM (7 years, 1 month ago) |
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recently i've been playing factorio. And, if you could inject it, I'd get over my needle phobia and do it.
Thing is, I can see myself getting bored with it in a few months. Which is fine, there will always be another game.
Yeah, you can spend all your time working, every free moment going to church and hiking up mountains. Or, games can be part of your entertainment. I've noticed pubs are bringing board games in, there's one not far from me with a backgammon board/table, I taught my friend how to play it and again, we can go there, and play a game, whilst drinking hard drugs.
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