Left To Their Own Devices

by Toronto Star

Category

Documentary

Frequency

Weekly Series

Language

English

We gave children the most powerful tools in human history. Then, we left them to their own devices. 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 so...

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Recent Reviews

Thank you!!!

holmae•1/27/2026

I’ve shared this with every parent I can think of. Thank you for doing the research and taking the time to share it with all of us.

Woulda been 5 stars

ohbejuan•1/9/2026

A wonderful, moving, and nuanced podcast. -1 Star for having that absolute hack Taylor Lorenz as part of it.

Not Really

ShenJohn•1/7/2026

They’ve taken many one off stories and tried to feed them to us as though this is the norm. I’m around a ton of teenagers and it seems just like the teenagers of my youth. There’s a couple moody ones, a few antisocial’s, and a few jocks. As a teen mom for the past several years, I find this podcast to be entirely untrue.

I went from afraid to informed

Stuart Cook•1/6/2026

As a chronic technology over-user I was afraid of social media and similar tech (both for myself and for my kids) like I was afraid of germs or disease. This podcast helped me understand the mechanisms of social media, its risks, benefits, and I am now an informed user and parent.

Eye opening

TrishaDee•12/28/2025

Thank you for doing this!!