Electronic Media and the Struggle for Connection

This book will help you understand the causes, effects, and remedies for excessive media use (e.g., gaming, internet, social media) that are plaguing our youth.

I have been in practice for over 35 years and have been around long enough to appreciate that each new generation of kids comes with its own struggle of the times. Over the past 10 years or so, the children in my former private practice in Olympia and, more recently, in my practice at Madigan Army Medical Center all too often were presenting with ever increasing behavioral dysregulation to include extreme tantrums, aggression to peers and adults, destruction of property, negative mood, threats to harm self or others, and self-injury. As I started to ponder what was going on, it has been increasingly clear that the common thread appeared to be an ever-growing consumption of media. I began reviewing the literature to see if anyone else was coming to the same conclusion and found seven seminal thinkers. Cash, H. & McDaniel, K. (2008). Video Games and Your Kids: How Parents Stay in Control. Issues Press Doan, A. (2012). Hooked on Games. Coralville, IA: F.E.P. International, Inc. Dunckley, V. (2015). Reset your Child's Brain. Novato, CA: New World Library. Hari, J. (2018). Lost Connections: Uncovering the Real Causes of Depression – And the Unexpected Solutions. Berryville, VA: Hari, J. (2018). Lost Connections: Uncovering the Real Causes of Depression – And the Unexpected Solutions. Berryville, VA: Berryville Graphics, Inc. Kardaras, N. (2016). Glow Kids. New York, NY: St. Martin's Press. Kersting, T. (2016). Disconnected: How to Reconnect our Digitally Distracted Kids. Independent Publishing Platform. Palladino, L. (2015). Parenting in the Age of Attention-Snatchers: A step-by-step Guide to Balancing Your Child's Use of Technology. Boston, MA: Shambhala. Turner, A. (2017). Breaking the Feedback Loop: How I Liberated myself from Internet Addiction and you can too. Lexington, KY: Phanarian II. Wilson, G. (2014). Your Brain on Porn. UK: Commonwealth Publishing. This paper will summarize my thoughts as well as the amazing work of these seminal writers. My hope is that it will enable parents to appreciate that our children are in trouble, serious trouble, so deep in fact that, left unchecked, their futures and in some cases, their very lives, are at stake. But there is hope – new research is offering us a clear understanding on what is happening emotionally, neurologically, and psychologically to media addicted children and well-thought-out parental guidance and, when needed, treatment protocols are being developed and successfully implemented.

I have a B.A. in psychology from the University of California at Berkeley, an M.A. in psychology from the University of Arkansas, and a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Arkansas. I completed an American Psychological Association-approved internship at Silas B. Hayes Army Community Hospital in Fort Ord, California and a post-doctoral fellowship in pediatric psychology at Madigan Army Medical Center in Tacoma, Washington. I am licensed in Psychology in the State of Washington (#1695). I have worked as a pediatric and adolescent psychologist in the Army for 10 years, in private practice for 25 years, and more recently at Madigan Army Medical Center for the last 5 years where I serve as a senior staff member providing pediatric and adolescent psychological services, family therapy, training, supervision, and consultation to Madigan clinics.