The Star

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Channel • 12 Shows

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Updated 17/11/2023
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26 SEPT

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.

26 Sept

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34 min
26 SEPT

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?

26 Sept

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32 min
14/11/2023

Nearly 30,000 Ontario kids are trapped on mental-health waiting lists

Guest: Dr. Amy Gajaria, psychiatrist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) Wait times of up to two years. There are not enough publicly funded therapists. Emergency rooms are overwhelmed by children in crisis. Ontario's child and youth mental health system is at a breaking point. The Mental Health Commission of Canada reports that mental illness affects more than one million children and youth in the country. And while the provincial government has stood up and started to take notice with new funding announcements this year, there remain simply not enough resources to help young people suffering from mental illness. As part of The Kids Aren't All Right series, Kenyon Wallace – who wrote on mental health and children – speaks with Dr. Amy Gajaria. Audio Sources: CBC News This episode was produced by Paolo Marques, Brian Bradley and Kenyon Wallace.

14/11/2023

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24 min
SEASON 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 porn 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.

S1 Trailer

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4 min
10 OCT

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.

10 Oct

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31 min
3 OCT

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?

3 Oct

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29 min
17 OCT

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?

17 Oct

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29 min
21 NOV

Left to Our Own Devices

On December 10, 2025, Australia will be the first country in the world to ban social media for kids. It's a radical step, and lawmakers around the world are taking notice. In the U.S., eight states have proposed similar legislation. In Canada, Quebec and Nova Scotia are reportedly considering bans of their own. These policies are popular, but they're also controversial – and some experts worry they could isolate a generation of children. But on the other side of the world, a very different story is unfolding. In North America, where governments have yet to regulate social media in any meaningful way, young people are taking matters into their own hands. Young people like Maddie Freeman, who started a grassroots movement to wean her peers off social media after a wave of youth suicides devastated her community. So, as Australia's landmark ban takes effect, only one question remains: will kids figure out how to make social media work for them? Or will governments make that decision for them?

21 Nov

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30 min
27/09/2024

The Liberal government survives – for now

The Liberal government survived its first confidence vote Wednesday, when the Bloc Québécois and the NDP decided to offer Prime Minister Justin Trudeau a lifeline. The Bloc's demand are clear — the protection of supply management for poultry, eggs and dairy and more generous pension payments for seniors aged 65 to 74. The NDP's less so. But, regardless, both parties concluded an election with Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre leading in the polls is more dangerous to them now than cooperation with the Grits. This week on "It's Political" we'll unpack what the parties need to do in the next few weeks and months to accomplish their own goals, with a panel of political strategists. Then we'll hear from pollsters about what the landscape looks like, how it has shifted and where the opportunities lie. And finally, we'll sit down with former Bloc Québécois leader Gilles Duceppe to discuss the party's new position as the Liberals' dance partner, what it could mean for sovereignty and what more the Bloc hopes to extract. Some of the clips you heard on this week were sourced from the Canadian Press Gallery, CPAC, the House of Commons, and the CBC. In this episode: Crestview Strategy Partner Ginny Roth, Syntax Strategic Principal George Soule, Canada 2020 President and CEO Braeden Caley, Abacus Data founder and CEO David Coletto, Leger Marketing Executive Vice President for Eastern Canada Sébastien Dallaire, Former Bloc Québécois leader Gilles Duceppe, and Toronto Star Ottawa Bureau Reporter Mark Ramzy. This episode of "It's Political" was produced by Althia Raj and Kevin Sexton. Matt Hearn is our sound engineer. Our theme music is by Isaac Joel.

27/09/2024

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57 min
31 OCT

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.

31 Oct

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37 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.