Why calling screentime ‘digital heroin’ is digital garbage

The supposed danger of digital media made headlines over the weekend when psychotherapist Nicholas Kardaras published a story in the New York Post called "It’s ‘digital heroin’: How screens turn kids into psychotic junkies." In the op-ed, Kardaras claims that "iPads, smartphones and XBoxes are a form of digital drug." He stokes fears about the potential for addiction and the ubiquity of technology by referencing "hundreds of clinical studies" that show "screens increase depression, anxiety and aggression."

We’ve seen this form of scaremongering before. People are frequently uneasy with new technology, after all. The problem is, screens and computers aren’t actually all that new. There’s already a whole generation — millennials — who...