Journal of Alcoholism & Drug Dependence
Open Access

Parental addiction to "screen addiction" of their children

World Conference on Addiction Psychiatry - July 06, 2022 | Webinar

July 06, 2022 | Webinar

Anat Ben Salmon

ROTeM Centre, Israel

Scientific Tracks Abstracts: J Alcohol Drug Depend

Abstract :

Many parents seeking help complain and have trouble with what they refer to as “kids screen addiction”. This complaint has grown even more since the Covid-19 outburst. “Screen neither addiction”nor” Technology addiction" do not appear in the latest Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, the DSM-V, published in 2013. The closest term is "Internet Gaming Disorder," which is also suggested as a phenomenon for further study rather than the official diagnosis. According to Felt & Robb (2016), the increased screen media use motivates researchers as well as public health experts to advocate for research on “addiction” to electronic screen products and the internet in children (Felt & Robb, 2016; World Health Organisation, 2015). Although concerns of both parents and educators regarding the use or abuse of screen time by children are growing, researchers are challenged to conceptualise and approach the phenomena. According to Dom off et al. (2019), in a digital society, addiction or overuse of digital technology by children and teenagers is a phenomenon which is challenging to conceptualise nonetheless to measure (Domoff, Harrison, Gerhardt, Gentile, Lumeng and Miller, 2019). Moreover, it is already acknowledged that time spent using digital devices cannot provide the sole criterion for addiction, especially while we are investigating this in a society where using screens excessively has become the norm, using the screen to elaborate on this issue. According to Hasartmangusõlt and Nõustamiskeskus (2018), the border between healthy and addictive use of digital devices can be explored where the use of digital devices becomes all-encompassing. The overuse disturbs meaningful life areas, and we can refer to health disturbances (Hasartmangusõlt & Nõustamiskeskus, 2018). This lecture will explore the parenting stance toward screen addiction from the perspective of a parental councillor

Biography :

Anat serves as the chairman of the Israeli Parental Counselling and Family Counselling Association. Over the past three years, together with Offer Erez, Anat has broadcast a weekly radio show and has daily live broadcasts on social media networks, discussing mental health topics. Anat has published several academic publications in the last year and is involved in on-going research of her practice. She serves on the editorial board of “Clinical images and case reports journal”. Anat has more than 16 years of practical experience working with children, adolescents and parents. During her undergraduate studies, she worked as a therapist in the Welfare ministry and served as group therapist in a mental health hospital in Ottawa, Canada. Anat is the co-manager of Kelim Slavism L.T.D (established in 2006) that specialises in diagnosis and therapy and for individuals and families in both clinical and home settings, and has treated hundreds of couples and families.