Unwired: Gaining Control Over Addictive Technologies
Gaia Bernstein (2023)
What is Digital Addiction?
Exploitative business models and manipulative algorithms are increasingly driving a digital addiction crisis amongst children and adolescents. We’re pitting young children’s brains against some of the most sophisticated and well-funded technologies in human history. It should come as no surprise that our children are suffering.
Digital addiction is an umbrella term that refers to the excessive and problematic use of digital devices and platforms – such as smartphones, social media, video games, and AI companions – to the point that it interferes with a person’s daily life.
Children and Screens, 2024
SourceThe Evidence
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Addiction
1 in 4adolescents use their smartphones in ways that are consistent with behavioral addiction
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Disconnection
1hrper day children spend outside – that's less time than prisoners.
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Habitual Checking
☑️frequent social-media checking in adolescents alters brain chemistry and heightens sensitivity to social feedback
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Sleeping Patterns
1 in 5young people wake up at night to check social media, making them 3x more likely to feel tired at school
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Time Lost
35hrsthe amount of time teens spend on smartphones- equal to a full-time job
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Digital Distractions
🔔lead to higher stress, reduced productivity, and a superficial understanding of information
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Digital Multitasking
🧑💻multiscreen use is linked to weaker memory, less attention, and more impulsivity in adolescents
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IRL Interactions
1hrless per day on in-person interaction spent by 12th-graders today compared to GenX
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What To Read
The Anxious Generation
Jon Haidt (2024)
Winston Center Research – The Brains of Teens
The Winston Center at UNC Chapel Hill (2022)
What To Watch
Global Crisis, Global Response
Human Change at Davos (2024)
Addictive by Design
Human Change at Davos (2024)
Testimony on Examining the Harm of AI Chatbots
Dr Mitch Prinstein for the United States Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism (2025)
What To Listen To
Scrolling2Death Podcast
Hosted by Nicki Petrossi (2023)
Jonathan Haidt on How to Solve the Teen mental Health Crisis
Center for Humane Technology feat Jonathan Haidt (2024)
MAMA Expert Insights Series
Mothers Against Media Addiction feat. Dr. Jim Winston and Emily Cherkin (2024)