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11.07.2024
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SESONG 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 p**n 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

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34 min
-2 D.

With spring training in full swing, we discuss how Kazuma Okamoto is looking, plus the mailbag

Guests: Former Blue Jays catcher and broadcaster Alan Ashby; Toronto Star baseball columnist Gregor Chisholm This week in Deep Left Field, we head down to Dunedin, Florida as the Star's Gregor Chisholm wraps up his week at Blue Jays spring training. We check in with Gregor about what he's seen from the Jays and get his thoughts on, among other things, how Kazuma Okamoto has been looking, why Anthony Santander didn't have his shoulder surgery much earlier and how Eric Lauer feels about being overlooked for a spot in the Jays' rotation once again. Also, we get into the wayback machine as the Jays get set for their 50th anniversary season and talk to Alan Ashby, who caught 124 games in the Blue Jays inaugural season, 1977. All that plus a dip into the mailbag at deepleftfield@thestar.ca!

-2 d.

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1 t 23 min
SESONG 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

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31 min
SESONG 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

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29 min
SESONG 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

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29 min
SESONG 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

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32 min
SESONG 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

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36 min
SESONG 1 – TRAILER

Introducing Left to Their Own Devices

We handed kids the most powerful technology in history. Then we walked away. This is what happened next. When she was 12 years old, Ava Smithing spiraled down a social media rabbit hole that nearly cost her life. A decade later, she discovered she wasn't alone: Big Tech had rewritten childhood and adolescence for her entire generation. Armed with questions and a year to find answers, Ava embarked on a cross-continent investigation into a hidden digital world. She met teens in 12-step programs for social media addiction, young girls wrestling with compulsive p**n use, and boys who had been blackmailed by international cybercriminals. This isn't a self-help guide to digital wellness. It's a survival story from the front lines of 21st century childhood: where young people are re-writing the playbook for what it means to be human in a hyperconnected world. Subscribers to the Toronto Star will be able to access episodes early.

Trailer for S1

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4 min
27.06.2024

Ontario against gender-based violence, Part 2: Intimate partner violence, a survivor tells her story

Guest: Cait Alexander, artist and social activist In 2022, 184 women were killed violently in Canada. That's one woman killed every 48 hours. More than four million women, 30 per cent of all women aged 15 and older, report that they have experienced sexual assault. It's costing Canada almost $8 billion to deal with the aftermath of spousal violence alone. Is a country that in the past was considered a global champion of human rights, failing to effectively protect women at home? In 2022, the federal government launched a National Action Plan to end gender-based violence. The resultant agreement with several provinces will be seeing $162 million distributed over four years in Ontario alone. But advocates say they're frustrated by the pace of change, if two important pieces of legislation for women currently pending in Ontario is any indication. Over two episodes, we discuss them both. In today's episode: Bill 173 is the Intimate Partner Violence Epidemic Act, and it calls for intimate partner violence to declared an epidemic in the province. It took a year, but the Ontario government has finally shown its support towards the bill, introduced by the NDP. The bill received a rare standing ovation from all parties in the house after being introduced in April. Last year, similar calls from an inquest into the deaths of three women at the hands of their former partner was rejected by the Ford government. Our guest today, Cait Alexander, was nearly murdered by her partner. Yet he walks free, and she had to leave Canada. The criminal case for her ex-boyfriend, accused of trying to kill her in 2021, was rescheduled twice before it was ultimately dropped due to the Jordan ceiling under the Criminal Code, that ensures everyone charged with an offence has the right to trial within a limited time-frame. If you are a victim of intimate partner violence, there is help. The Star has compiled a list of resources here. This episode was produced by Paulo Marques and Saba Eitizaz What would you like to hear on Toronto Star podcasts? Let us know in this survey and you can enter to win a $100 gift card.

27.06.2024

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28 min
12. FEB.

The Blue Jays open spring training in sunny Florida, but under a cloud of injuries, plus the mailbag

Deep Left Field with Mike Wilner

12. feb.

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1 t 5 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.