With respect, empathy, and wacky humor, Slaying Digital Dragons empowers teens to explore their screen scene; join the resistance against Big Tech’s manipulations and addictive algorithms; protect their body, brain, psyche, reputation, and relationships from the Digital Dark Side; and conduct a self-intervention (called an “App-endectomy”) to reset and optimize their digital lives.

Big Tech, social media, and omnipresent devices have commandeered people’s lives, realities, relationships, and cultures. It’s hard to think of a single human behavior, interest, passion, or goal; a single social, emotional, psychological, cognitive, physical, or practical need, that doesn’t have a digital doppelgänger.

The dark side of the digital world—internet addiction, trolling, false “news,” lies, divisiveness, conspiracy theories, cancel culture, obsessive FOMO—is an out-of-control “digital dragon” capable of undermining truth, decency, reality, civility, empathy, constructive discourse, and individual and societal well-being. Children and teens are under digital assault with potentially damaging consequences for their healthy emotional, social, and cognitive development.

But, armed with the knowledge, self-awareness, and tools for personal growth they’ll discover in Slaying Digital Dragons, teens can create a healthy screen scene by leading an examined life. Educating themselves. Staying alert. Exercising caution. Using “brand” sanitizer to create a digital trail of flowers, not turds. And by always remembering that the most powerful app is their brain. 

Praise for Slaying Digital Dragons

“This interactive, comprehensive guide helps teens thrive online and off. Slaying Digital Dragons trusts teens to make the right decisions for themselves and gives them the information and tools to do so, while also calling on them to use their abundant empathy to make the world a better place.”
— Dr. Michele Borba, parenting and bullying-prevention expert, author of End Peer Cruelty, Build Empathy; Thrivers; and Unselfie

“Slaying Digital Dragons illuminates one of the dimmest, least understood, most impactful domains of life today, especially in the lives of children and teens: screens. Alex J. Packer breaks new ground in this authoritative, impeccably researched but also highly engaging, funny, and practical manual on how to take advantage of the huge upsides of the digital world while avoiding the diabolically dangerous traps it sets for the unsuspecting. This is an important and much-needed guide on how to navigate and thrive in the world young people inhabit and absorb every day.”
— Edward M. Hallowell, M.D., founder of The Hallowell Centers; author of ADHD 2.0

“This book is truly the War and Peace for teens and anyone who spends a vast amount of time on their screens. Alex J. Packer’s manifesto for slaying the digisphere is a lifesaver. Join the resistance and share this powerful book. It will help you and your friends retool, regroup, and set healthier standards for abating the dark forces beyond your control.”
— Nancy Chuda, co-founder and president emeritus of Healthy Child Healthy World

“Teens are on their phones and screens for seven and a half hours every day. Most of them know that they are either addicted to their devices or in danger of getting addicted, but when their parents bring the subject up, kids react defensively and angrily. In his funny, straight-talking new book, Slaying Digital Dragons, Alex J. Packer offers teens a way to think about their relationships to their devices. Relying on cutting-edge research and his deep insights into children, Packer is by turns supportive and challenging, humorous and dead serious. If you want your teen to examine their smartphone use, if you want to have a productive conversation with your child about social media, you should buy this book for yourself and your child.”
— Michael Thompson, Ph.D., New York Times bestselling coauthor of Raising Cain: Protecting the Emotional Life of Boys

Q & A with the author of Slaying Digital Dragons

Q: So, are you anti-tech?

Absolutely not. Look, I love the internet as much as anyone. I love being able to go online 24/7 to buy navy-blue shoe polish and a blow torch for making crème brulée, text a friend a photo of the albino skunk I just saw in my yard, see if it’s going to rain tomorrow, and find out if bears can carry coronaviruses. I am in awe of what the digital world enables in terms of creativity, communication, invention, knowledge and skill acquisition, and advancement in virtually all spheres of existence.

So, no, I’m not anti-tech. But I am anti-Big Tech. I am anti- corporations, governments, and invisible bad actors stealing and monetizing our data, digital trail, and lived experience, seeking to manipulate for their gain how we think, feel, and behave.

The digital world is a miracle. But also a monster. Teens sense this. I want to empower teens to take charge of their online life so that it nourishes their interests, strengthens relationships they care about, helps them achieve their goals, and fills their being with joy, self-confidence, and positive energy and emotions. 

Q: How does the book work?

It’s divided into three sections.

• “Reflect” contains nine, zany-yet-research-based challenges that guide teens to explore their own screen scene and discover where it lies along the healthy-unhealthy continuum.

• “Resist” shows teens how to recognize and stand up to the manipulative, addictive algorithms and malevolent forces of the digital world that can harm their physical, cognitive, social, and emotional well-being.

• “Reset” challenges teens to give themselves an “App-endectomy,” a guided self-intervention for cutting out unhealthy elements of their screen scene, strengthening their immunity against the worst aspects of Big Tech, and turning their screen time into a force for goodness and growth.

Click here to read the full Q & A with the Author

To order your copy:

• Amazon

• Free Spirit Publishing

• Barnes & Noble

• Bookshop.org

Readers will…

…get a lot of laughs out of the book’s narrative style, humor, and illustrations

…become empowered to find a healthy balance between their online and offline lives

…discover where their own screen scene lies along the healthy-unhealthy continuum

…learn how social media algorithms and Big Tech business models seek to manipulate and addict them

…recognize warning signs for potential negative consequences of excessive or harmful screen time

…discover tips and tools for protecting their body, brain, psyche, relationships and reputations from Big Tech and excessive or harmful screen time

…gain skills for intervening on friends with screen-time problems

…learn how to give themselves an “App-endectomy” to reset their digital lives and improve their screen scene

No other book for teens…

…describes the potential negative consequences of screen time with such frankness and depth—and such light-hearted humor, empathy, and encouragement

…offers thought-provoking, interactive, “fun” tools for assessing their own screen scene

…covers so much ground: Life balance. Brain science. Boredom. Boogers. Multi-tasking. FOMO. Phone calls to chickens. Blue light. Sleep deprivation. Social skills. Empathy. Economics. Digital surveillance. Cookies. Addiction. Ice cream. Negative thought loops. Time suckers. Demons of Denial. Sexting. Socrates. Facial recognition.