Dr. Nicholas Kardaras on limiting social media addiction in kids
Psychologist Nicholas Kardaras spoke to Fox News Digital about political and everyday efforts stop children from becoming addicted to social media sites.
Ivy League psychologist Dr. Nicholas Kardaras has been warning about the dangers of social media addiction for years, and lawmakers are finally taking notice.
In March, the House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly in favor, 352-65, of a bill that would force the Chinese-owned company Bytedance to divest from TikTok. The bill would block TikTok from the U.S. if Bytedance does not divest within 165 days of the law's passage.
Kardaras supported this as well as other efforts to highlight the concern, such as U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murphy ’s advisory last year, which warned about the potentially negative impact of social media on children and teens.
"I was thrilled that was put out there because that was kind of a wake-up call. I started as a voice in the wilderness about eight, nine years ago, saying that digital media can be addicting. But that was just the price of admission. Digital media we know now, by design, has been habit-forming and addicting," Kardaras told Fox News Digital.
The House of Representatives recently passed a bill that could ban TikTok from the U.S. if the Chinese Communist Party-associated ByteDance refuses to sell the app. (iStock)
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He added, "But part two of that equation is, what's the cost of that addiction? What are the mental health byproducts? What's the depression effect? The suicide effect, the anxiety? What is that addiction leading to? And so now we're seeing that now we have about ten years’ worth of data. And we're seeing the landscape is so much more. Every psychiatric metric for young people is at an all-time high; anxiety rates, depression rates, overdose rates, ADHD rates."
His experience treating patients with social media addiction found that younger people were "more emotionally reactive, much more volatile, much more histrionic." He cited social media as a factor since it "lives on the emotional reactivity."
"It's black and white. It's very reactive. There's no nuanced or critical thinking in social media because that doesn't get any views. It doesn't get any engagement," he remarked.
While there have been debates over the free speech implications of restricting social media or potentially banning TikTok, Kardaras, a self-proclaimed "free speech purist," argued that we can have it both ways.
Dr. Kardaras explained that efforts can be made to limit apps for children while also protecting free speech. (iStock)
"I believe that everyone over 18 should have the right to free road over the highway of the data sphere, but I do think there should be guardrails for the more vulnerable, our children and impressionable adolescents. So there should be guardrails in place for that and limitations in place for that, but not for the adults," Kardaras said.
He noted that the issue appears to be surprisingly bipartisan.
"I think at the end of the day, the great equalizer is, you know, no matter what the political divide is, everyone has kids. And we are seeing the research and the data is pretty clear," Kardaras said.
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Outside the political sphere, he encouraged parents to not only support more guardrails for children using social media, but also to guide them in critical thinking.
Kardaras celebrated political efforts to limit kids on social media. (iStock)
"At the end of the day, I talk about that we're not going to change the turbulence in the ocean, but can we become better swimmers. And so, can the layperson now teach their children or themselves to be better critical thinkers, to be better consumers of this toxic medium that we're all swimming in? You know, we're not going to go on this. We're not going to turn back the clock and put the genie back in the bottle," Kardaras said.
"Something's changing, and we need to kind of get a handle on that before it gets worse."
Multiple other states have attempted to enact laws that would either restrict certain sites like TikTok or require parental permission for children.