Description
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. 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