Slaying Digital Dragons empowers teens to join the resistance against Big Tech and take charge of their digital lives—to make technology their tool, and not become its tool.
Teens care about the future. They are idealistic and passionate. Yet, their physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual health—along with the future of democracy and the planet—are under attack from digital dragons. Never in the history of civilization has one technology hijacked truth, reality, and public discourse to such an extent—sinking its claws into every aspect of human existence to monitor, manipulate, and predict our behavior for profit or hidden agendas.
Too dark? Okay. I’ll lighten up. Look, I love the digital world. It’s magical. Miraculous. I can’t imagine my life without it. But having lived BCE (Before Cellphones Emerged), I am concerned about the impact on young minds, bodies, and beings of living life through a screen. Today’s kids grow up with digital technology implanted in their psyches. It’s not their fault. They never make a conscious choice. It’s just a given. We’re all like the proverbial frogs in a pot of water on the stove. By the time we realize Big Tech has turned the heat up to boil, it’s too late to jump out.
I wrote Slaying Digital Dragons to start a resistance, to encourage mindfulness, to waken young people’s awareness of what the Digital Dark Side has the potential of doing to their healthy development and future options; to national unity and cultural norms; to our ability to act on the most critical issues facing the planet. Armed with the tips, tools, and insights they’ll find in the book, teens will be empowered to explore their screen scene, resist the manipulations and addictive algorithms of Big Tech and social media, and give themselves an “App-endectomy” to reset and optimize their online and offline lives.
