There’s Another Pandemic Raging. It’s Targeting the Young and Online

There’s another pandemic raging. It’s targeting the young and online.
By Mitch Daniels, Opinion, Washington Post, 17 April 2023

Mitch Daniels is a senior adviser to the Liberty Fund, president emeritus of Purdue University and a former governor of Indiana.

(Stock)

A pandemic rages uncontrolled, a damaging and even deadly plague sweeping across a wide swath of society. The scientific evidence of its dangers is massive and irrefutable. Its worst harm is inflicted on the young, who are the most vulnerable to its contagion, and whose injuries may well prove irreversible with time.

The last time the nation faced such a threat, leaders panicked and overreacted, understandably at first.  But then they failed to course-correct even as the scientific data plainly guided them to do so. Consequently, enormous and tragic collateral damage occurred in the form of other health risks left untreated, more than a year of vital learning lost by schoolchildren, increases in mental illness, drug abuse and suicide, not to mention the destruction of countless businesses and economic livelihoods.

How Social Media is Literally Making Teens Mentally Ill

Extracts from a major article by Dr. Nicholas Kardaras, bestselling author of “Glow Kids”. We begin with ways to immunize oneself (or one’s child) from the viral toxic effects of social media, then continue with a description of the extent of this plague.

How social media is literally making teens mentally ill
By Dr. Nicholas Kardaras, nypost.com, 17 Sep 2022

Extracts

Six Tips for Social Media Immunization

The best way to immunize oneself (or one’s child) from the viral toxic effects of social media have to do with focusing less on the toxin (social media) and more on strengthening one’s psychological immune system. So while it’s always a good idea to both limit and delay a person’s use of social media, it’s critically important to become a modern day Philosopher-Warrior in order to develop the grit and resilience of a Spartan and the critical thinking, curiosity and intellect of an ancient philosopher by adhering to the following tips:

1. BUILD GRIT AND RESILIENCE. According to psychologist Angela Duckworth (the author of “Grit”), we develop grit by leaning in to experiences, and thus allowing ourselves to make mistakes that we can learn from — and we NEVER quit.

The Tech Industry’s Psychological War on Kids

"What none of these parents understand is that their children’s and teens’ destructive obsession with technology is the predictable consequence of a virtually unrecognized merger between the tech industry and psychology. This alliance pairs the consumer tech industry’s immense wealth with the most sophisticated psychological research, making it possible to develop social media, video games, and phones with drug-like power to seduce young users."

The Tech Industry’s Psychological War on Kids
by Richard Freed, medium.com, 11 March 2018

Child and adolescent psychologist, and the author of “Wired Child: Reclaiming Childhood in a Digital Age”

How psychology — a discipline that we associate with healing — is being used as a weapon against children

“We called the police because she wrecked her room and hit her mom… all because we took her phone,” Kelly’s father explained. He said that when the police arrived that evening, Kelly was distraught and told an officer that she wanted to kill herself. So, an ambulance was called, the 15-year-old was strapped to a gurney, taken to a psychiatric hospital, and monitored for safety before being released. Days after being hospitalized, Kelly was brought to my office by her parents who wanted to get help for their troubled girl...

...