The Star

•

Channel • 13 Shows

Investing

Investing

Updated weekly
Politics

Politics

Every two months
Documentary

Documentary

Weekly series
News

News

Updated daily
Baseball

Baseball

Updated weekly
Automotive

Automotive

Weekly series
Sport

Sport

Updated 11/07/2024

24/01/2024

Should I stay or should I go? The Torontonian's dilemma

Moving out of the big city for somewhere more affordable has become a common topic of conversation among Toronto millennials. Is it worth giving up the perks of the city for a lower cost of living and shorter commutes? We speak to a woman named Sydney who's leaving the city she was born in in search of a lower-stress and less costly lifestyle. Then we speak to money expert Jessica Moorhouse, host of the "More Money" podcast, about how to navigate this question and make the most of life in Toronto despite the rising costs of just about everything. This episode was produced by Ghada Alsharif, Julia De Laurentiis Johnston, Sean Pattendon, Kevin Sexton and Andrea Varsany. What you would like to hear on Toronto Star podcasts? Let us know in this survey and you can enter to win a $100 gift card.

24/01/2024

•

26 min
Season 1, Episode 4

Brain Rot

Are screens rewiring kids' brains and creating a generation of depressed teens? After Jonathan Haidt published his mega-bestseller The Anxious Generation, a lot of parents became convinced that they were. But the science tells a more complicated story. Ava interviews several scientists studying technology's impact on our brains, then takes matters into her own hands. She meets up with Dr. Emma Duerden, Canada Research Chair in Neuroscience and Learning Disorders, to conduct her own experiment: monitoring a teenager's brain activity in real-time while she scrolls through her phone. What they discover might surprise you.

S1, E4

•

31 min
Season 1, Episode 1

Internet Addicts Anonymous

When she was 12 years old, Ava Smithing spiralled down a social media rabbit hole that nearly cost her life. A decade later, she discovered she wasn't alone: Big Tech had hijacked childhood and adolescence for an entire generation. In this ten-part investigative podcast, Ava crosses the continent to uncover a hidden digital world. She'll meet teens with millions of followers, young girls wrestling with compulsive porn use, and boys blackmailed by international cybercriminals lurking in their DMs. In the first episode of Left to Their Own Devices, Ava dives into the debate over technology addiction. The condition is absent from the official list of mental health disorders used by psychiatrists, but undeniable to those who live it. Inside an Internet and Technology Addicts Anonymous meeting, she hears firsthand from people who say their lives have been consumed by screens. And, she sits down with psychiatrist Dr. Anna Lembke – author of Dopamine Nation – who's watched her patient' struggles shift from substance abuse to compulsive relationships with social media, gaming, and online content. This podcast isn't a self-help guide to digital wellness. It's a survival story from the front lines of 21st century childhood.

S1, E1

•

34 min
Season 1, Episode 7

See You in Court

In the absence of meaningful regulation, thousands of young people are now looking to the justice system to hold Big Tech accountable. In this episode, we go inside three landmark lawsuits that could finally force social media companies to answer for the damage they've done. New Mexico's Attorney General, Raul Torrez, has seen the darkest corners of the internet. After twenty years prosecuting child sex crimes, he knows exactly where predators hunt today: social media. In a groundbreaking lawsuit against Meta, Torrez is alleging that Facebook and Instagram have become a "breeding ground for predators". And he's determined to change that. Meanwhile, in Toronto, Duncan Embury is spearheading a lawsuit on behalf of twenty three different school boards in Ontario. School boards who say that Snapchat, TikTok and Instagram have made teaching next to impossible. Duncan and his team believe that these platforms are knowingly targeting kids while they're at school. And he says that if that doesn't stop, these platforms won't just disrupt education. They'll destroy it. On the other side of the continent, Laura Marquez Garrett is representing more than 4,000 kids who allege they've been broken by social media. And Laura is seeing some disturbing patterns in their stories. Patterns that suggest – not just that social media companies are harming kids – but that they know it.

S1, E7

•

37 min
Season 1, Episode 2

A Tale of Two Algorithms

Algorithms are the invisible engines that drive every scroll, swipe or click. And, in the last few years, it's become clear that they can devastate young lives. But Ava discovers they might also be capable of saving them. She speaks with two teens with radically different stories. When 12-year-old CeCe Neltner went online to find workout tips, her social media feeds devolved into a torrent of eating disorder content. Today, she says she's lucky to be alive. Meanwhile, thousands of miles away, Keira MacDuff was battling a mysterious chronic illness that doctors dismissed as teenage drama – until TikTok's algorithm led her to a life-changing diagnosis. Did TikTok save Keira's life?

S1, E2

•

32 min
Season 1, Episode 3

Big Tech's Origin Story

You'd be hard-pressed to find a young person who uses Facebook regularly. But to understand why social media has had such a profound, and sometimes devastating, effect on kids, you need to understand Facebook's origin story first. Ava tracks down two of Silicon Valley's most prominent insiders: Roger McNamee and Frances Haugen. Together, they trace Facebook's rise into a global behemoth and reveal how decisions made in boardrooms left millions of children vulnerable to social media's most damaging effects. Ava also speaks with Nir Eyal, author of Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products, who explains how digital platforms are engineered to keep us coming back for more. In Eyal's world, the stickier the technology, the better. But at what cost to the next generation?

S1, E3

•

29 min
Season 1, Episode 6

Yahoo Boys

The West African cybercriminals who call themselves the Yahoo Boys have perfected dozens of cons – including the infamous Nigerian Prince email scam. But recently, they've discovered something far more lucrative: the extortion of teenage boys. In just two years, sextortion cases targeting teens have exploded by 18,000 percent. The Yahoo Boys have made millions. And they've left a trail of devastation in their wake that has reached even the most remote communities. In a tiny Manitoba town, one family is still piecing their lives back together after their son became a victim of a deadly sextortion scam. Their story reveals how quickly a predator can weaponize shame – and how little stands between our kids and catastrophe. The platforms know about this crisis. Snapchat alone receives 10,000 reports of sextortion every month. Yet the scams continue, largely unchecked. So one man has decided to do something about it. Cyber analyst Paul Raffile has made it his mission to infiltrate the Yahoo Boys' networks, expose their methods, and bring them to justice – even when no one else will.

S1, E6

•

36 min
Season 1, Episode 5

Blackmailed

Like a lot of lonely teenagers, Sarah found refuge on social media. In her lowest moments, she'd reach for her phone, connecting with strangers on Snapchat and Wizz – an app that's been called "Tinder for kids." But those digital friendships quickly became something more sinister. A torrent of older male users solicited her, and then, when she spurned their advances, blackmailed her. For years, Sarah's life was in turmoil. And then she met a woman named Carol Todd, who took her under her wing. Carol understood what Sarah was going through, because the same thing had happened to her daughter, Amanda Todd, more than a decade earlier. Now, Carol and Sarah are demanding change. What will it take to keep young women safe on the internet?

S1, E5

•

29 min
Season 1, Episode 8

Under the Influence

When Ghyslain Raza – aka the "Star Wars Kid" – became the internet's first viral sensation, it nearly destroyed him. More than twenty years later, many young people today are desperate for that kind of fame – even if it means making their most embarrassing moments available for public consumption. According to one recent poll, more than half of all Gen Zs want to be influencers – online creators who turn their lives into content. To try and understand this phenomenon, Ava tracks down Sophie Fergi, an 18-year old influencer with millions of followers, and journalist Taylor Lorenz, who tracked the rise of content creators like Sophie in her book Extremely Online. Is the influencer boom a sign of narcissism run amok? Or has social media finally democratized fame and given young people a voice? Maybe it's both.

S1, E8

•

25 min
24 Mar

Blue Jays pitchers Shane Bieber, Dylan Cease, Trey Yesavage

Guests: Blue Jays pitchers Shane Bieber, Dylan Cease, Trey Yesavage Today, Deep Left Field checks out the Blue Jays' starting rotation - or, at least, people who will be pieces of the rotation at some point this season. Dylan Cease got the richest contract the Jays have ever given to a pitcher, and the 30-year-old right-hander will be second out of the gate when the season opens, starting Saturday afternoon against the Athletics at Rogers Centre. Cease joins us to talk about choosing Toronto, what he expects from his seven years here and fills us in on several of his interesting hobbies. We also hear from Shane Bieber and Trey Yesavage, two pitchers who joined the Jays late last season and made a huge impact on their run to the World Series. Both of them will start the season on the injured list. Bieber talks about picking up his player option to stay with the Jays and how his winter went after giving up the World-Series-winning home run in Game 7 while Yesavage takes us through his meteoric rise and record-setting post-season. All that, plus the mailbag at deepleftfield@thestar.ca!

24 Mar

•

58 min

The Star Podcasts are part of the Toronto Star, a multi-platform news organization that informs, connects, investigates, reports and effects change. The purpose of the Toronto Star is to keep our audience informed about what matters most to them, to help make their life, community, country and world better.