Guest: Ava Smithing, advocacy director at the Young People's Alliance

Young people today have been raised with the most powerful tools in human history at their fingertips. Entire childhoods have played out online, with algorithms acting as babysitter, therapist, and mirror through which they see themselves. And now, we’re seeing what happens when the first generation raised on smart phones comes of age; shaped by platforms designed to manipulate attention and monetize minds.

Ava Smithing was just 12 when she spiraled into a social media rabbit hole that nearly took her life. Years later, she walked the halls of Congress to warn lawmakers about the harms of Big Tech.

Now, she’s the host of the Toronto Star’s new podcast series Left to Their Own Devices that takes a hard look at what happens when kids are left to figure it out alone. She joins This Matters to talk about what led her here.

Produced by Paulo Marques and Sean Pattendon