The Michael Shermer Show How to Protect Children from Social Media and AI
Sep 9, 2025
Jean Twenge, a psychology professor at San Diego State University and author of influential books on technology's impact on youth, dives into the challenges parents face today. She discusses the emotional pitfalls of AI-driven chat apps and how they may distort children's perceptions of relationships. Twenge also addresses the alarming links between social media use and mental health decline, advocating for safer alternatives to smartphones. With practical advice, she empowers parents to navigate and protect their kids in this high-tech world.
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Episode notes
Smartphones Drove Teen Mental-Health Spike
- Jean Twenge connects the adolescent mental health spike primarily to smartphones and social media starting around 2012.
- She argues multiple causal mechanisms make this explanation compelling and consistent with data.
Instagram Triggered Severe Eating Disorder
- Jean describes Alexis Spence opening Instagram at 11 and developing anorexia from thinspiration content.
- Alexis survived but still struggles and couldn't attend college because of severe lasting effects.
Multiple Mechanisms Harm Teens
- Twenge outlines multiple mechanisms: displacement, reduced sleep, less in-person socializing, and harmful social comparison.
- She highlights Instagram's photoshopped images as particularly damaging to teen girls' self-image.
