Nicholas Kardaras
Clinicians & Public Health · Omega Recovery
Addiction psychologist whose "Glow Kids" warned parents about compulsive screen use in children.
Nicholas Kardaras is an addiction psychologist and founder of the treatment center Omega Recovery. His book "Glow Kids" (2016) argues that children's heavy use of screens and games can develop into a compulsive, addiction-like pattern, drawing on his clinical experience treating young people. Kardaras writes from within the addiction-treatment field's own characterization of severe screen and gaming use, and his book helped popularize concern about tech-related compulsive behavior in children well before it became a mainstream topic of conversation.
Suicide and self-harm are complex and never caused by one factor alone. Problematic screen use, cyberbullying, harmful content, and online exploitation may increase risk or intensify existing distress. If someone is in immediate danger or emotional crisis in the United States, call or text 988.
WORKS IN THE LIBRARY (10)
BOOKS
Glow Kids: How Screen Addiction Is Hijacking Our Kids—and How to Break the Trance
Glow Kids is addiction psychologist Nicholas Kardaras's 2016 book, drawing on his clinical work treating young people, arguing that heavy, compulsive use of screens, video games, and tablets can develop into a pattern he compares to substance dependency. Kardaras describes screens as capable of overstimulating dopamine-driven reward circuits in ways he likens to how the brain responds to certain drugs, and associates heavy gaming and device use in children with warning signs including irritability, withdrawal-like reactions when devices are removed, attention problems, anxiety, and low mood. The book proposes structured device-free periods and stricter household limits, particularly for young children, as a response. TechKids Foundation includes Glow Kids as an early, widely discussed clinical framing of compulsive screen use in children — a characterization from within the addiction field, not a diagnostic claim TechKids itself makes.
Digital Madness: How Big Tech Is Driving Our Mental Health Pandemic—and the Ancient Prescription for Sanity
Digital Madness is Nicholas Kardaras's 2022 follow-up to Glow Kids, arguing that constant social-media and device use has grown mismatched with human psychology in ways he associates with rising anxiety, depression, and polarized, black-and-white thinking. Kardaras frames depression as unusually common in heavily digitized societies compared with less digitally connected communities, and describes platforms' reward-driven design as associated with compulsive use and with physical-health concerns such as sedentary behavior. He also discusses how influencer culture and algorithmic amplification can spread psychiatric symptoms and self-harm-related contagion among followers, echoing broader social-contagion research. TechKids Foundation notes that suicide and self-harm are never attributable to any single factor. The book's proposed response centers on building individual psychological resilience — through purpose, physical activity, and critical thinking — alongside calls for platform-design and antitrust-style regulatory scrutiny.
VIDEOS
Tech addiction traps young in 'digital rabbit hole where they can't function'
In this June 2026 interview on Newstalk's Moncrieff radio show, Nicholas Kardaras discusses what he calls a digital rabbit hole pattern, in which heavy device and social-media use leaves some young people unable to function well across school, work, or relationships. He describes his clinical approach to problematic technology use, including extended unplugged periods paired with traditional psychotherapy, and frames constant device use as functioning for some people as an anxiety-relieving habit that can become an unhealthy crutch. He references Irish survey findings that most respondents want to spend less time on their phones despite checking them immediately on waking, and discusses rising attention-related diagnoses over the past decade that he associates with heavier screen exposure. TechKids Foundation includes this interview as an example of Kardaras's clinical framing reaching an international broadcast audience.
Social media is driving our mental health crisis—Dr. Nicholas Kardaras explains how
In this September 2022 Hub Dialogues interview with Sean Speer, Nicholas Kardaras discusses his book Digital Madness and argues that heavy social-media use is associated with a broader mental-health decline, citing pre-pandemic U.S. figures on depression, suicide, and overdose deaths as context for the scale of the problem. He describes social-media platforms' reward mechanisms — likes, shares, and algorithmic targeting — as associated with compulsive use, and argues that some widely followed influencers who disclose serious psychiatric symptoms may contribute to social contagion among followers. Kardaras also connects heavy platform use to feelings of isolation despite large online followings, and to more polarized, binary thinking. He proposes building individual psychological resilience through philosophy and purpose, alongside possible antitrust and regulatory action toward platform companies. TechKids Foundation notes that suicide and self-harm are never attributable to any single factor.
Resilient Kids: Guest Dr. Nicholas Kardaras (Glow Kids; Digital Madness)
In this September 2022 episode of the podcast Read, White & Blue, hosted by then-Florida House Speaker Chris Sprowls, Nicholas Kardaras discusses his books Glow Kids and Digital Madness and the effects he associates with excessive screen time and social-media use in children, teens, and young adults. Kardaras describes recurring patterns he has observed clinically — including difficulty self-regulating device use and mood changes tied to platform engagement — and offers parents practical strategies, such as encouraging reading and structured critical-thinking activities, as alternatives to unstructured screen time. The conversation frames technology dependency as a behavior pattern that responds to deliberate, non-punitive household strategies rather than one requiring total device avoidance. TechKids Foundation includes this appearance as an example of Kardaras's clinical framing reaching a policy-adjacent, family-focused audience.
Dr. Nicholas Kardaras Weighs in on the Digital Addiction Impacting Children
In this September 2022 episode of The Hamilton Review, a podcast hosted by pediatrician Bob Hamilton and focused on children, families, and culture, Nicholas Kardaras discusses what he characterizes as digital dependency and its association with children's mental health. He offers guidance aimed at parents seeking to manage their children's technology use, drawing on his clinical background and the arguments of his books Glow Kids and Digital Madness. The episode situates Kardaras's clinical perspective on compulsive screen use within a pediatric-audience show that otherwise covers childhood health topics such as nutrition and behavior. TechKids Foundation includes this appearance as an example of Kardaras's clinical framing of screen-related concerns reaching a parenting- and pediatrics-focused audience alongside his more mainstream media interviews.
Digital Madness: How Social Media Is Driving Our Mental Health Crisis, with Dr. Nicholas Kardaras
In this October 2022 episode of Alyssa Milano's podcast Sorry Not Sorry, Nicholas Kardaras discusses his newly published book Digital Madness and its argument that heavy social-media use is associated with a broader decline in psychological well-being. Drawing on his background as an addiction and mental-health specialist and his earlier book Glow Kids, Kardaras describes patterns of compulsive platform use he has observed clinically in children, teens, and young adults, and discusses how social-media design choices intersect with mood and behavior. The conversation presents his clinical perspective for a general audience rather than a specialist one, emphasizing practical framing over data. TechKids Foundation includes this appearance as one of several book-promotion interviews that carried Kardaras's clinical framing of screen-related concerns to a wide, mainstream podcast audience.
STUDIES
Generation Z: Online and at Risk?
In this September 2016 Scientific American Mind feature, Nicholas Kardaras examines how heavy social-media and gaming use is associated with psychological strain in teenagers. Opening with a composite case of a middle-schooler whose behavior changed after heavy device and social-app use on a school-issued laptop, he argues that digital platforms create an illusion of belonging that can leave real emotional needs unmet, and that habitual checking and texting are associated with reward-seeking patterns similar to those seen in other compulsive behaviors. Citing outside survey research, he links frequent, high-volume texting and social-networking among high schoolers with a greater reported likelihood of substance use and other risk behaviors, and cites survey findings connecting heavy networking time with higher rates of depression and reported suicide risk. Kardaras recommends delaying children's social-media access and increasing parental monitoring. TechKids Foundation notes that suicide and self-harm are never attributable to any single factor.
Social media expert celebrates 'wake-up call' on addiction: We need guardrails for children
In this April 2024 Fox News Digital feature, Nicholas Kardaras discusses why he considers growing political and public attention to youth social-media use a welcome development. He describes social-media platforms as built, by design, to be habit-forming, and says that measures of youth anxiety and depression are at unusually high levels. Kardaras argues that legal guardrails — pointing to the House bill pushing a TikTok divestment and the U.S. Surgeon General's advisory on social media and youth mental health — should focus on protecting children rather than restricting adults' access, distinguishing his position from a blanket ban. He frames the goal as helping young people become more critical, resilient users of technology rather than eliminating it altogether. TechKids Foundation cites the piece as an example of a clinician publicly welcoming policy momentum around youth social-media guardrails.