How too much screen time can turn your child into an addict… and ways to stop it happening

HOW much time you should let you kids spend on iPads and computers has always been hotly-debated, but now the issue of screen time has become even murkier.

According to Dr. Nicholas Kardaras these kinds of tech are a “digital drug”, with studies showing screens can increase depression, anxiety, and aggression and can even lead to psychotic-like features where the video gamer loses touch with reality.

“Once a kid has crossed the line into true tech addiction, treatment can be very difficult,” the expert explains.

“Indeed, I have found it easier to treat heroin and crystal meth addicts than lost-in-the-matrix video gamers or Facebook-dependent social media addicts.”

Nicholas used the story of a mum called Susan to explain his point.

She bought her six-year-old son John an iPad because his school used them and his tech teacher raved about them.

John was a fan of reading and baseball and Susan wanted to give him a head start in life.

He began playing educational games on it, then discovered Minecraft.

His teach told Susan it was just like “electronic lego”, so she had no issue with it.

Her son started to change though – he wouldn’t do his chores, didn’t read or play baseball anymore and said he saw the Minecraft blocks in his dreams.

As his behaviour continued to deteriorate, she tried to take the game away but John threw temper tantrums.

His outbursts were so severe that she gave in, still rationalising to herself over and over again that “it’s educational.”

Then, one night, she realised that something was seriously wrong.

“I walked into his room to check on him. He was supposed to be sleeping - and I was just so frightened…,” she said

She found him sitting up in his bed staring wide-eyed, his bloodshot eyes looking into the distance as his glowing iPad lay next to him.

He seemed to be in a trance. Beside herself with panic, the mum had to shake the boy repeatedly to snap him out of it.

Distraught, she could not understand how her once-healthy and happy little boy had become so addicted to the game that he wound up in a catatonic stupor.

Nicholas points out many kids have “aggressive temper tantrums” when their tech is taken away, and seen bored and have no interest in life without it.

In fact, things like iPads and smart phones effect the brain in the same way as drugs do.

This is why Dr. Peter Whybrow, Director of Neuroscience at UCLA calls screens “electronic cocaine” and Chinese researchers call them “digital heroin”. 

Nicholas has worked with over 1,000 teens over the last 15 years and says prevention is better than cure when it comes to tech addiction.

In 2013, the American Academy of Pediatrics stated eight to 10-year-olds spent about eight hours A DAY using digital media, with that rising to 11 hours among teens.

One in three kids are using tablets or smartphones before they can talk. 

Nicholas explains that once a person crosses over the line into full-blown addiction - drug, digital or otherwise - they need to detox before any other kind of therapy can have any chance of being effective.