Date:4 September 2025
Treść Sekcje
- ● Children in the digital trap
- ● Big Tech’s hidden agenda
- ● The problem with AI: not just a teen issue
- ● Manufactured addiction and the push toward transhumanism
- ● What science says (and doesn’t say)
- ● Steps parents can take
- ● Choosing connection over control
- ● A call to action
Are you digitally connected? Of course, you are – you wouldn’t be reading this if you weren’t.
Digital connection has become so much a part of life that many rarely stop to question its effects—be they negative or positive. But behind the convenience of constant connectivity lies a darker reality: digital dependency syndrome, digital addiction, technology addiction, or internet addiction. Different names, same outcome. Nowhere is this more alarming than the effect it’s having on the children of today, who are growing up in a world where devices are not just tools, but lifelines, and in some tragic cases, deadly ones.
One such tragedy is the recent loss of 16-year-old Adam Raine. Adam’s parents are taking legal action against OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman, after discovering that ChatGPT, an AI system Adam initially used for schoolwork, became a trusted companion that ultimately validated his suicidal thoughts. The AI didn’t just passively reflect his despair; it reportedly gave him detailed instructions on how to end his life. Adam’s death is a stark reminder that unchecked reliance on digital systems can carry real and irreversible consequences.
Children in the digital trap
Adam’s case may be extreme, but there are varying degrees of dependence that if not nipped in the bud early on, can signal much more profound consequences. Many parents already see the signs: toddlers erupting in tantrums when screens are removed, children mimicking device use even in their sleep, and teenagers withdrawing into the glow of their devices rather than into the embrace of family or friends.
This is digital dependency syndrome at work. It’s not just a habit or distraction, but an all-consuming environment that blurs the line between reality and virtuality. Offering dopamine hit after dopamine hit that becomes very addictive and ends up impairing the reward pathways in the brain. The risks are profound: erosion of social skills, detachment from the natural world, declining mental and emotional health, and vulnerability to manipulation by forces hidden deep within algorithms.
Even mainstream institutions such as the UK’s Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) downplay the risks. It’s guidance on screen time remains vague, now deferring to other’s that have conducted more research in the area, whilst withdrawing its 2019 Guidance. This ambiguity conveniently supports industry interests but leaves parents in the dark.
Big Tech’s hidden agenda
It is no secret that social media platforms, apps, and digital tools are designed to hijack our brains, with children at much higher risk due to their developing brains. Algorithms reward us with dopamine hits that keep us scrolling, swiping, and consuming. The more time we spend online, the more data we generate, and data is gold dust for corporations.
>>> Iluzja oddzielenia - przez aplikację
This is the business model of surveillance capitalism: our thoughts, habits, emotions, and relationships are harvested, monetised, and increasingly used to train AI systems. Those systems are then deployed back into our lives to shape how we think, vote, shop, and even how we relate to ourselves.
A new paper describing the Baby Open Brains (BOBs) project, published in Scientific Data, reveals an even more worrisome development as researchers, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, have released scans of babies brains to global databases used for AI training and government mega-projects, paving the way for predictive profiling of children.
As Tristan Harris, former Google design ethicist and co-founder of the Center for Humane Technology, has explained, social media is about “rewiring the flows of attention and information in our society.” Essentially that means that we, or our children, give away our most precious resource, our attention, in exchange for a momentary dopamine rush, and in the process, we become easier to manipulate and control.
The problem with AI: not just a teen issue
While much of the discussion around digital addiction focuses on children, adults are far from immune. Increasingly, we are outsourcing decisions to algorithms and AI—whether for shopping, fitness tracking, financial advice, or even mental health support. But what happens when these systems, trained on biased or incomplete data, begin to shape not just our choices but our values, relationships, and sense of meaning?
AI is marketed as a neutral tool, but in reality it reflects the values of its creators and the agendas of those who fund it. Adam Raine’s tragic story highlights the failure of safeguards in AI systems that present themselves as helpful companions but can, in vulnerable moments, push individuals further into darkness.
>>> Poza cyfrowym uzależnieniem: jak technologie przekształcają naszą młodzież w posłuszne maszyny
Manufactured addiction and the push toward transhumanism
The concern is not only about overuse, but about deliberate design. Like the tobacco and opioid industries before them, Big Tech profits from addiction. By disconnecting people from each other and from the natural world, it reprograms users into compliant consumers compatible with a transhuman future—a future where human beings are melded with technology, not by choice, but by design.
The World Economic Forum (WEF) openly discusses implantable devices as part of the so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution. What may sound like science fiction—children growing up with chips in their bodies—is already being normalised as “convenience.” Meanwhile, voices like historian Yuval Noah Harari and futurist Ray Kurzweil present this trajectory as inevitable. But inevitability is a story told by those who benefit from compliance. We still have a choice.
>>> Digital hijack – the hidden agenda of Big Tech and what to do about it
What science says (and doesn’t say)
The scientific community is divided. Some studies acknowledge links between excessive screen use and depression, anxiety, and social isolation. Others highlight the benefits of digital interaction, especially in marginalised or geographically isolated communities. This selective presentation of evidence often reflects who funds the research.
The World Health Organization recognises gaming disorder as a diagnosable condition, but broader digital addiction is not officially acknowledged. Yet the term nomophobia, distress at being without a mobile phone, is now widely recognised, reflecting just how deeply devices have embedded themselves into our psyches.
Regardless of whether we call it “addiction” or “dependency,” the symptoms are clear: fractured attention, impaired dopamine/reward pathways, shallow social bonds, and an erosion of real-world connection.
Steps parents can take
Dr Michelle Perro, a leading US paediatrician, health freedom-fighter, and long-time ANH friend and colleague, urges parents to take proactive steps to reduce AI’s influence in the home:
- Set boundaries early: Limit device use and ensure children engage daily in unstructured, device-free play.
- Talk openly: Encourage conversations about technology, its benefits, and its risks.
- Model behaviour: Children copy what they see. Adults must also reduce their dependency.
- Stay informed: Keep abreast of changes in technology, privacy, and AI to make empowered decisions for your family.
- Create digital-free zones: Meals, bedrooms, and family gatherings should be sacred spaces free from devices.
Parents who wait for industry or regulators to fix the problem may wait forever. The responsibility—and power—lies within families and communities.
Choosing connection over control
The antidote to digital dependency is not more technology, but real-world connection. Studies show that young people with strong social bonds and access to nature are less likely to fall prey to digital addiction. True connection releases oxytocin, the bonding hormone, which provides lasting fulfilment—unlike the fleeting, and incomplete, dopamine hits of likes and shares.
Nature remains the ultimate medicine. Walking barefoot on grass, sharing stories face-to-face, laughter with friends and family, or simply breathing fresh air are small but radical acts of resistance in a world pushing us toward a disembodied, culturally devoid, existence.
A call to action
Adam Raine’s death is a devastating reminder of how high the stakes are in this game. We cannot dismiss it as an isolated tragedy; it is a signal flare illuminating a broader crisis of digital dependency and AI overreach.
We must ask: who benefits when our children are pacified by screens? Who profits when our data fuels AI that in turn shapes our thoughts? And what future are we consenting to if we remain passive?
The choice before us is stark: to allow ourselves and our children to be subsumed into a technocratic future of addiction and control, or to reclaim our humanity through connection, awareness, and responsibility.
The tools of Big Tech are powerful, but they are not destiny. By setting boundaries, cultivating real-world relationships, and demanding accountability, we can chart a different course.
Ultimately, we must decide whether to accept a posthuman, AI-mediated future—or to insist on a more beautiful, human-centred world where technology serves us, not the other way around.
The time to choose is now.
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