Left To Their Own Devices

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?

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.

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.