The dark side of technology withdrawal
Brad Huddleston observes,
I can’t tell you how many times, after giving a talk, a parent has come up to me and said something like, “You just described my child to a tee.”The only thing I do is give a list of the general symptoms of digital addiction with explanations. Here’s the list:
- anger
- aggression
- anxiety
- depression
- irritability
- attention deficits
- emotional numbness
There are more, but in my experience, these are the most common. I convey to my audiences that most of us experience at least some of these symptoms simply because of our daily stresses. What I’m talking about is an exacerbation of these symptoms brought on by addiction.Anger and aggression are at the top of the list for a reason. These two are the ones I hear about most often, and they can turn horrid. For example, 17-year-old Daniel Petric from Ohio made national news for shooting his parents after they took the violent video game Halo 3 away from him.[i] His mother died, and his father was injured. If you don't think it can get that extreme in your home, think again. Daniel's conviction was in 2009.[ii] Video game technology has and continues to advance at a mind-numbing pace, and the brain clearly cannot handle the ever-growing levels of stimulation.