Slaying Digital Dragons (Paperback)

Empower teens to take charge of their digital lives.

Without avoiding the dark side of technology, this interactive and comprehensive reference book empowers teens to take charge of their digital life and improve their mental health and well-being. Quizzes and exercises guide readers through the process of evaluating their relationships with their screens, social media, and tech in general.

With a frank and humorous approach to a timely topic, award-winning author Alex J. Packer, Ph.D., pulls back the curtain on the hidden aspects of the digital world and shares:

• Signs that screen time is affecting teens’ bodies, brains, and relationships
• Tips for protecting their privacy, safety, and reputation
• Ways social media and algorithms can distort their reality and sense of self
• Tools for finding life balance and resetting their screen scene

Slaying Digital Dragons is a call to action to make the choices that are right for teens. It doesn’t demand ditching smartphones or deactivating social media. Instead, it suggests strategies for playing favorite games and posting on favorite apps, while also doing good in the world and bringing joy and encouragement to others. It invites readers to join the resistance and learn how to thwart the manipulative forces trying to control and profit off their users. And it gives teens what they need to stay safe and take charge of their digital life.

For more must-have advice from Alex J. Packer, Ph.D., check out How Rude: The Teen Guide to Good Manners, Proper Behavior, and Not Grossing People Out (Revised & Updated Edition).

'Etiquette Guru to the Youth of America,' Alex J. Packer, Ph.D., is an educator, psychologist, and award-winning author of numerous books for parents and teenagers including How Rude! The Teen Guide to Good Manners, Proper Behavior, and Not Grossing People Out and Slaying Digital Dragons ™ Tips and tools for protecting your body, brain, psyche, and thumbs from the digital dark side. Alex's books have been translated into many languages, including Spanish, German, Korean, Japanese, Thai, Mandarin, Greek, Romanian, and Serbian.

Alex is sought after by the media for his provocative commentary on manners, child-rearing, and substance abuse prevention, and has been the subject of numerous radio, television, and print interviews. Alex has led workshops and lectured widely across the United States and around the world. Talks have taken him to locations as far-flung as Caracas, Bangkok, Buenos Aires, Paris, Hamburg, Shanghai, Bogota, Beijing, Tokyo, and Mexico City.

Numerous associations have invited Alex to speak and lead workshops at their conferences, including the European Council of International Schools (ECIS), National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), Association of Boarding Schools (TABS), Association for the Advancement of International Education (AAIE) and the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD).

For 14 years, Alex was President and CEO of FCD Educational Services. Founded in 1976 and recently acquired by Hazelden, FCD is the leading nonprofit provider of onsite K-12 substance abuse prevention services for schools throughout the United States and in over 65 countries abroad. For eight years, Alex was headmaster of an innovative alternative school in Washington, DC for children ages 11-15. He also served as Director of Education for the Capital Children's Museum.

His feature-length screenplay, "Digby and Fly," won Grand Prize in the Massachusetts Film Office Screenwriting Competition. His proposal for an interactive family television series was optioned by Popular Arts Entertainment in Los Angeles. Alex graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy and holds undergraduate and Master's degrees from Harvard University and the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and a Ph.D. in Educational and Developmental Psychology from Boston College.