Are children getting lost in the digital maelstrom?

Franz Eidenbenz is an expert in online addiction and talks about the challenges that online media pose for young people and children as part of the Kosmos Kind lecture series. The psychologist will explain why reward mechanisms and algorithms in social media and online games make teenagers addicted. He also gives tips on how parents and teachers can bring children and young people back into the real world.

Never before has a generation been so well equipped with technology and so courted as a target group for online products as today's children and young people. In the video for his Kosmos-Kind lecture, psychotherapist and psychologist Franz Eidenbenz talks about this phenomenon and the risks that this development entails for young people and children.

Social media and online addiction: What makes social media so seductive?

«Digital media have become time wasters thanks to smartphones. The tempting offers in the gaming and social media sector are programmed in such a way that users build up the strongest possible bond,» says Eidenbenz. Sophisticated reward mechanisms mean that control over consumption can quickly be lost, says the online addiction expert. Eidenbenz provides practical tips on how parents and teachers can protect children from the pull of online media and direct their attention to the real world.

Franz Eidenbenz is an expert on online addiction. In the Kosmos-Kind lecture, he talks about the risks that online media pose for children.
Franz Eidenbenz is a psychologist and psychotherapist who specialises in online addiction, among other things.(Image: zVg)

About Franz Eidenbenz

Franz Eidenbenz is a psychologist and specialist psychologist for psychotherapy and has been involved in the topic of online addiction since 1999. In 2011, he set up the centre for gambling addiction and other behavioural addictions at the Radix Health Foundation in Zurich. He has a grown-up daughter. His Beobachter guidebook «Digital-Life-Balance» on promoting healthy media consumption was published in 2021. He trains professionals in this area. The psychologist also works in private practice as an individual, couples and family therapist in Affoltern am Albis and Zurich.

Lecture cycle «Cosmos child»

The Stiftung Elternsein foundation, publisher of the Swiss parenting magazine Fritz+Fränzi, has launched the "Akademie. For the child. Giedion Risch" has launched the exclusive lecture cycle «Kosmos Kind». Recognised experts address different aspects of childhood and convey them in a way that is understandable and relevant to everyday life. Fritz+Fränzi subscribers benefit from discounted tickets.