Glow Kids

How Screen Addiction Is Hijacking Our Kids - and How to Break the Trance

By: Nicholas Kardaras PhD

Narrated by: Jonathan Davis

Length: 11 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's summary

We’ve all seen them: kids hypnotically staring at glowing screens in restaurants, in playgrounds and in friends' houses - and the numbers are growing. Like a virtual scourge, the illuminated glowing faces - the Glow Kids - are multiplying. But at what cost? Is this just a harmless indulgence or fad like some sort of digital hula-hoop? Some say that glowing screens might even be good for kids - a form of interactive educational tool.

Don’t believe it.

In Glow Kids, Dr. Nicholas Kardaras will examine how technology - more specifically, age-inappropriate screen tech, with all of its glowing ubiquity - has profoundly affected the brains of an entire generation. Brain imaging research is showing that stimulating glowing screens are as dopaminergic (dopamine activating) to the brain’s pleasure center as sex. And a growing mountain of clinical research correlates screen tech with disorders like ADHD, addiction, anxiety, depression, increased aggression, and even psychosis. Most shocking of all, recent brain imaging studies conclusively show that excessive screen exposure can neurologically damage a young person’s developing brain in the same way that cocaine addiction can.

Kardaras will dive into the sociological, psychological, cultural, and economic factors involved in the global tech epidemic with one major goal: to explore the effect all of our wonderful shiny new technology is having on kids. Glow Kids also includes an opt-out letter and a "quiz" for parents in the back of the book.

Design Credit: David Curtis

©2016 Nicholas Kardaras (P)2020 Audible, Inc.

Essential Read for Every Parent

One of the best and most important books I have read as a parent. I deeply appreciated the clinical data and we have changed the way we approach technology with our children as a result. I am so grateful for this book. A must read.

Could not stop reading -

This book is amazing. Every parent and educator should read it. I highly recommend.

Research based persuasive book.

This book does not rely on emotion to sway you to pick a polarized side of the "screens or no screens" debate, but there is ample evidence that young developing minds need protection. It lays out facts based on research, which will give any parent or caregiver solid information to help them take a stand when they are trying to make changes in the amount or type of screen use they allow. I liked that there was advice on how to scale back (no going cold turkey) and replace screen time with better activities. I'd love a follow up book on how people are succeeding at reducing screen time for themselves and their kids with individual stories and more studies. Thanks to Nicholas Karderas for his work with kids and families! PS-If you"re looking for support there are a couple of screen addiction recovery programs mentioned in the last couple of chapters.

A digital pandemic

The global viral pandemic of 2020 has brought to the foreground a hidden pandemic decades in the making: the growing addiction to video games. Dr. Kardaras brings to the fore the history of this “digital cocaine” and scientific studies on the affect of video gaming to young minds. Everybody, and I mean EVERYBODY should read this. Parents, grandparents, psychologists, counselors, teachers, religious and community leaders, your Nextdoor neighbor.....this affects everybody!

deviated from thesis a bit in parts

When the author sticks to his thesis of the psychological effects of entertainment screen use (aka "digital candy" instead of "digital veggies") complete with sources cited, the book presents a compelling argument even more important as we try to emerge from the education impacts of the pandemic push to remote instruction (and the ripple effects of tech in the hands of children too young to have any hope of self-regulating skills and parents too overwhelmed to do much scaffolding of such skills - if the parents had those skills to begin with). The tangent into the waves emitted by tech was poorly placed and seemed kind of randomly thrown in, distracting from the core argument presented without much actionable options in real life contexts other than shielding the devices from body contact - and really detoured the momentum into a rabbit hole that may have been more impactful elsewhere (such as at the end of the book).

The narration isn't particularly bad as far as nonfiction goes, just came across as snide a bit more than strictly necessary & may damage the connection built through the audiobook experience of the information for listeners who weren't already inclined to believe. Also some voice acting differentiation of different speakers when people are being quoted instead of continuing in the same vocal persona would have really helped clarity in sections (this is a common problem in nonfiction audiobooks in my experience).

As a physically disabled dyslexic who has experienced life outcomes that would have been unachievable without the tech revolution, I am inclined to see validity in tech being broadly available in academic settings - BUT only with appropriate direct oversight by adults constantly aware of how horribly things can go wrong if healthy scaffolding of tech use isn't constantly in the forefront of mindsets of the teachers/administrators. As a mom that curtailed an adolescent child's screen addiction before the pandemic only to see indications of relapse repeatedly though the pandemic, finding appropriate ways to moderate this is almost constantly on my mind and has affected how I parent the rest of my children (I have 5) as well as guidance I give other parents who share their struggles with me. Keeping our kids from falling into these traps feels like a full-time job by itself, with constant undermining from many powerful sources - and that was the case before the pandemic.

One thing that works well in my conversations with my own adolescent children is asking what value their entertainment choices bring to their lives or the greater world around them. If it isn't helping us understand lived experiences much different from our own so we can collaborate to bring about better together, or challenging them to be better versions of themselves, or building a healthy connection in a relationship they value with another person, or teaching them a skill that directly benefits their growing to be a person upon whom others can rely (my favorite definition of becoming an adult, I am forgetting where I encountered it), then it may not be as worthy of their precious time & attention as other options they have available. I encourage everyone to ask themselves if non-essential behaviors/tasks meet those criteria and to consider chosing differently if the immediate easy option doesn't check any of those boxes. Nonfiction audiobooks that challenge my perspective like this one did are my personal go-to option and I rather like the outcomes I am experiencing from that mindful choice.

Great information felt a little bit repetitive

absolutely love the information in this book and it really makes you think twice about the way you're raising your children. every parent should read this it did get a little bit repetitive at the end, but a great read

almost nailed it

my disdain for common core now has grounds to run deeper..
95% of the argumentation is extremely solid. the remainder leans a bit to heavily on evolutionary psychology, which raises as many questions as it answers..

So important for parents

This book is so important and eye opening. As a mother to two young toddlers, I’m glad I have this information now.

Poniant Topic - Struggling Teens

We are struggling with our teens, games, social media, eye contact, desire to read 📚 I am looking for guidance in this book. And I found some!

Critical for child and adolescent therapists and educators

This is a critical must read for all parents therapists school administrators and professionals working with children.