This chapter presents the best measures for resilience and community protection for some of the social determinants of digital diseases in the future for further discussion with families, school workers, and allied health professionals. It suggests that high levels of resilience may prevent development of mental health problems, like depression, stress, anxiety and obsessive-compulsive symptoms, supporting the suggestion that fostering resilience may prevent development of mental health problems in adolescents. The chapter presents a case report of a 14-year-old, brought to consultation by his mother, who has been worried about his weight. This case report points out how important it is to build up resilience skills through the development of caring and supportive relationships within and outside the family. The chapter suggests a four-pronged approach to prevent the excessive use and the problems associated with the Internet. It includes regulatory, parental, educational, and technological approaches.

This chapter discusses some of the known risks of the different forms of digital distraction in a vehicle and then considers how to use that information to change the behavior of teen drivers. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that six teens are killed in motor vehicle crashes every day. Interacting with other passengers, using a cell phone, or looking at or reaching for something in the vehicle were significant sources of distraction for teen drivers. The chapter presents a simple quiz based on the estimated crash risk associated with several multitasking activities. The sum total obtained from the quiz provides an estimate of the risk associated with distracted driving over the preceding week. The chapter also provides some guidance for parents, schools, and policy makers to help teens make good decisions when driving.

This chapter reviews the evolution of internet gaming addiction and how it has impacted adolescents and children. It outlines how online gaming provides a medium for youth to indulge in gaming as a form of mental escape. The chapter also describes signs of internet gaming addiction, reasons that gaming is especially addictive, and how to apply brief strategic family therapy (BSFT) to treat adolescents and children addicted to games. This chapter reviews diagnostic and treatment considerations associated with Internet gaming addiction among children and adolescents. BSFT is a short-term, problem-focused therapeutic intervention, targeting children and adolescents 6 to 17 years old, which improves youth behavior by eliminating or reducing maladaptive internet use and its associated behavior problems and changes the family members behaviors that are linked to both risk and protective factors related to online use. This model can also be applied to internet gaming addiction among adolescents and children.

This chapter seeks to contextualize the concept of cyberhealth within the field of Internet safety and illustrate its implications for educational culture and practice. It discusses many benefits that can result from the presence of technology in educational systems. The chapter describes the concept of cyberhealth with a focus on the importance of maintaining proper balance with technology use. It explains the issue of problematic interactive media use in order to convey the serious concerns related to excessive and improper use of technological devices. The chapter also discusses the importance of proper integration of technology into the classroom, including recommended strategies based on relevant research in the field. It concludes with a summary of the concerns related to digital device use, and an outline of recommended steps and models for teachers and administrators aimed at maintaining good cyberhealth and proper cyberbalance among students and in classrooms.

This chapter describes the growing impact of internet addiction on children and adolescents. It focuses on assessment methods that practitioners working with this population can use to measure and assess the behavior. The chapter explains how practitioners can develop their own screening tools of media use for children and adolescents. It outlines comprehensive parenting guidelines based on the developmental age of the child to best integrate technology at home. Issues of screen time impact a child’s moods and feelings. Children and adolescents who suffer from anxiety, especially social anxiety, are more likely to develop an addiction to technology. The chapter describes assessment methods such as Parent–Child Internet Addiction Test (PCIAT), which assists in clinical evaluation of children suspected to suffer from addiction and Problematic and Risky Media Use in Children Checklist. The chapter describes 3–6–9–12 prevention for screen addiction outlining steps parents can take at each child’s age.

This chapter describes the Family, Integrated Treatment, Social Connection–Internet Addiction (FITSC-IA^TM) approach as an intensive, community-based, integrated approach to the treatment of adolescent Internet addiction. FITSC-IA assesses and treats adolescents in the context of their functioning within their families and social systems in order to implement real-time intervention and treatment approaches to stabilize the addictive behaviors and common co-occurring diagnoses, such as social anxiety and depression. The chapter discusses clinical assessment, parenting style and integrated treatment approach. It describes key components of the family agreement, including setting expectations, negotiation meeting, and agreement active period. Harm reduction and abstinence approach are also applicable in the treatment of Internet addiction. The chapter also describes social recovery and effective treatment approaches such as cognitive behavioral therapy, exposure therapy, community-based support groups, motivational interviewing, transition, and technology reintroduction plan in the treatment of adolescent Internet addiction.

This chapter reviews key diagnostic markers of autism, explains how they relate to an increased vulnerability to internet gaming disorder (IGD), introduces ways to proactively decrease this susceptibility, and proposes specific modifications to current treatment protocols. It describes two primary categories of deficits and behaviors. In the first category, children and teens with autism show persistent deficits in social communication and interaction across multiple contexts. The second category of deficits and behaviors necessary for diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder is a pattern of restricted, repetitive behavior, interests, or activities. The biological functions of sleep, appetite, and mobility are often compromised in autistic youth. Online activities dangerously add to disruption in all three areas. Family members of autistic youth should be assessed and engaged before beginning treatment of an internet addiction disorder. A pretreatment step especially important for autistic youth is to assess internet addiction in their parents.

This chapter describes the cognitive impact of internet addiction on adolescents. It details the effects of technology and virtual media use on the development of the adolescent’s brain and reports some of the cognitive repercussions of the excessive use of games, TV, the Internet, and other platforms for mobile phones and tablets. Internet-addicted individuals show poor skills in controlling or inhibiting their responses. Another aspect that deserves to be mentioned is the lack of attention. The constant lack of attention produced by the internet results in a phenomenon that some have explained as “distracted from distraction by distraction. Research studies suggest that people who are constantly online activate regions associated with language, memory, and visual processing in a lower intensity, that is, they do not display much activity in the prefrontal area. The chapter also describes the impact of excessive media on memory and sleep patterns.

This chapter deals with smartphone addiction in children and adolescents. Smartphone addiction appears to be the latest behavioral addiction to emerge. The chapter describes the prevalence and risk factors of smartphone addiction. The risk factors are sociodemographic factors such as young age, psychological traits such as stress, loneliness, depression, or anxiety, and familial factors. The chapter discusses the consequences of smartphone addiction. Smartphone addiction affects one’s physical, psychological, and social well-being. Physical health consequences are motor vehicle crash, musculoskeletal disorders, eye and visual symptoms such as ocular discomfort, eyestrain, dry eye, headache, blurred vision, and double vision, electromagnetic radiation, and infection. Mental health consequence is sleep disturbance. Nomophobia, an abbreviation for no-mobile-phone phobia, phantom vibration syndrome, and ringxiety are some new terminologies about distress one receives because of excessive smartphone usage. Smartphone addiction also affects social interactions and academic performance.