meant it wasn’t just highly sensitive children or those with psychiatric disorders who were vulnerable to adverse effects, but potentially any child.
Feeling certain I was on to a significant connection, I began prescribing video game restriction more widely and more strictly — with startling results. While perhaps only a minority of children are truly “addicted” to video games, I observed how the vast majority of children exhibited certain symptoms surrounding game play — symptoms strikingly similar to amphetamine exposure — that resolved within days or weeks of complete abstention. I watched what happened before and after the intervention, which I came to call an electronic fast, tracked objective measures (like grades or homework completion), and observed what happened when parents inevitably “reintroduced” screens. I paid attention to what it took to convince parents that the fast was worthwhile, what anxieties they had about how to do it, and what impact my delivery had. I learned by watching the children over long periods what worked and what didn’t, and I noticed how their development would grow by leaps and bounds when screens were most restricted. I also saw how screen-time had a sneaky way of reinserting itself into families’ lives, and that — much like management of diet or finances — screen-time management was an ongoing process.
Importantly, I realized that the more information the parents had and the better they understood the underlying mechanisms connecting screen-time and symptoms, the better they were at regulating exposure, and the more quickly they could get a handle on problems before they spun out of control. When I set up an online course based on my experience (dubbed “Save Your Child’s Brain”), I received dozens of emails from mothers around the world, and I learned from those examples, too. Many of the mothers said they intuitively thought screens might be the cause of their child’s symptoms but that their concerns had been ignored by their child’s doctor or therapist. Hearing about the experiences of other parents helped them to stick to their guns and lose the screens, and I was encouraged that my message was resonating and having such a positive effect.
Perhaps serendipitously, even as I was continuing to counsel parents about reducing their children’s exposure to electronic screens, I began experiencing pronounced electronic screen sensitivity myself! If I spent several hours writing, and especially if I was on the Internet for extended periods poring over studies, I’d wind up feeling spacey, forgetting things, lashing out at my husband, and sleeping poorly. I’d even experience a rash on my face around my eyes if I used my laptop for an extended period of time. By necessity, I was forced to find ways to make my brain and body tolerate the time I needed to work at my computer; fortunately, I devised numerous helpful strategies, which I’ll discuss in chapter 10.
Finally, about five years ago I began expanding my studies into the fascinating world of integrative medicine. Integrative practitioners learn to look at patients in a holistic manner, and they systematically uncover environmental influences — such as diet, lack of exercise, or exposure to toxins — that may be triggering and maintaining a patient’s symptoms. Modifying these factors not only reduces aggravation, it frees up the body to self-heal. In general, for most chronic conditions, integrative clinicians favor natural methods over pharmaceuticals; they do prescribe medications, but they seek to use them sparingly. This is because, aside from nasty side effects we can see, we are now discovering that many medications (including psychotropics) deplete various nutrients or cause some other metabolic imbalance in the brain or body. In psychiatry, it’s often the case that medication solves one problem but produces another. For example, medications that help with attention often cause sleep problems, and medications that address mood often cause lethargy or weight gain. Thus, the importance of avoiding unnecessary medication in children — whose brains and bodies are more sensitive — cannot be overstated. This is not to say psychiatric medications are never appropriate for children; indeed, they serve an important role. But they should be used conservatively, always with risks and benefits in mind, and always in conjunction with other interventions that minimize the need for them. And they certainly shouldn’t be used merely to counteract overstimulation arising from environmental influences that are within our control.
It is astonishing how much chronic disease is caused by lifestyle choices. But while it takes more energy, both on the physician’s and the patient’s part, to heal in a natural, integrated fashion rather than just getting a quick fix with a prescription, it is equally astonishing how much can be reversed.
How to Use This Book
This book is intended to expose and explain how interactive screen-time creates and exacerbates psychiatric symptoms, and it provides parents with a practical, proven solution to reverse such changes. Part 1 introduces the phenomenon I call Electronic Screen Syndrome (ESS) — a constellation of symptoms from exposure to electronic screen media characterized by a state of hyperarousal (fight-or-flight) and mood dysregulation — and it examines case studies ranging from the severely emotionally disturbed child to the high-functioning child with isolated behavior or social issues. We’ll explore how screen devices interface with a child’s physiological systems, altering brain chemistry, arousal level, hormones, and sleep, ultimately interfering with thinking, mood, behavior, and social skills. We’ll see how these changes can eventually masquerade as full-blown psychiatric disorders, whether the child has any underlying disorders or not, and create growing dysfunction across multiple dimensions, as well as how a “screen-liberated” brain improves over the weeks, months, and years to come.
Part 2 provides the detailed, step-by-step plan I’ve used with hundreds of children and parents to minimize and reverse the harmful effects of ESS. This proven four-week program consists of a week-long preparation phase and a three-week electronic fast, and it can effectively “reset” a child’s brain. Much of the plan is dependent on proper planning and structure, and you’ll receive plenty of practical instruction on how to set yourself up for success, as well as how to handle any pitfalls you may encounter, such as handling resistance from others. You’ll also learn how to navigate screen-time after the Reset, both in the immediate aftermath and over the long haul. Part 3 addresses concerns parents inevitably bring up as they embark on the program — what to do about school-related screen-time, how to protect children if complete lack of screen exposure isn’t possible, and how to build community awareness. There are also three appendices: one outlines screen-time’s various physiological effects in table format; one describes the potential health effects of electronic-related radiation; and one answers the most frequently asked questions I hear from parents.
Although you may be tempted to jump right to the Reset itself (part 2), to get the most out of the book and maximize the program’s effectiveness, I suggest you read part 1 first. The more you understand about the nature of ESS, the more conviction and motivation you’ll have to follow through. If you are eager to get right to it, though, you could read part 1 during the first week of the fast. My hope is that this book empowers you to take action and inspires you to implement a treatment strategy that’s effective, broad-reaching, 100 percent safe, and essentially free.
So what you can you expect from the Reset? Based on utilizing a strict electronic fast in over five hundred children, teens, and young adults, and observing the changes during and following the fast, I have found that in children with diagnosed psychiatric disorders, about 80 percent will show marked improvement (symptom reduction of at least 50 percent) across all psychiatric symptom and diagnostic categories. In children without an underlying disorder, the percentage may be even higher, and of those who respond positively, about half will show a complete resolution of symptoms (that is, cessation of tantrums, chronic irritability, poor focus, and so on), and the other half will show marked improvement. You can expect to see a happier child with better focus and organization, improved compliance, and more mature social interactions. Beyond relief from the worst aspects of ESS, my goal for your child is not just symptom relief, but
