Kids These Days: The Impact of Tech, Social Media and AI on Adolescents

On with Kara Swisher

New York Magazine

Society & Culture

4.2 • 3.2K Ratings

🗓️ 7 August 2025

⏱️ 55 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, in 2022, more than one in three U.S. adolescents between the ages of 18 and 25 had some form of mental health disorder, including anxiety and depression. There’s also a loneliness epidemic: Teens and adults are more connected than ever, yet, somehow, more alone. Kara and three panelists explore how much blame should be placed on technology like smartphones, the impact of social media, whether the adolescent brain is inherently vulnerable, how artificial intelligence might shift the paradigm, and how parents and society at large could mitigate the problem. In this episode: Lauren Greenfield, artist, documentary photographer and filmmaker, who has been chronicling the lives of American adolescents for decades. Most recently, she created and directed Social Studies, an Emmy-nominated five-part docuseries for FX. Matt Richtel, a health and science reporter for the New York Times, who has long covered the social impact of the tech industry. His latest book, How We Grow Up: Understanding Adolescence, draws on neuroscience and personal narratives to explore the changing complexities of the teen brain and the role technology plays. Jack Thorne, playwright and screenwriter, whose recent Emmy-nominated Netflix hit Adolescence, co-created with Stephen Graham, examines the psychological toll of toxic masculinity, bullying and social media radicalization after a teenage boy kills his female classmate. Questions? Comments? Email us at on@voxmedia.com or find us on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok and Bluesky @onwithkaraswisher. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	It's on.
0:02.0	Hi, everyone from New York Magazine and the Vox Media Podcast Network.
0:15.4	This is on with Kara Swisher, and I'm Kara Swisher.
0:18.4	Today we're going to talk about adolescents and how constant exposure to technology and social media is affecting them maybe permanently.
0:26.1	According to SAMHSA in 2022, more than one in three U.S. adolescents between 18 and 25 had some sort of mental health disorder, which includes anxiety and depression. There's also a loneliness
0:39.1	epidemic. Kids and adults are more connected than ever, but somehow we are more alone. The question
0:45.3	is, how much blame can we place on tech like smartphones? What about social media? And most importantly,
0:50.4	what can we do about it as adults, as parents, and as a society because we are part of the problem too?
0:58.2	This is one of these issues we talk about on the show a lot. I also talk about it on Pivot a lot, and I'll continue to cover it because I think the impact of social media and tech on us has become amplified, has become weaponized, and it's the most important issue of our
1:12.5	day as we seek to create community, and it seeks to pull us apart. My guest today have been
1:18.6	looking at this in different ways. Lauren Greenfeld is an award-winning artist, documentary
1:23.8	photographer, and filmmaker who's been tracking the lives of American adolescents for decades.
1:28.9	Most recently, she created and directed an Emmy-nominated five-part docu-series for FX called
1:34.1	Social Studies. For about a year, she more or less embedded with a group of teens in California,
1:39.4	starting right after the pandemic, including getting access to the Holy Grail, their phones and social feeds.
1:45.5	It's an eye-opening look inside the relationships with social media and one another.
1:49.7	I love this series, and in fact, we had Lauren on Pivot when it first came out to talk about it.
1:54.9	It's a must-watch for any parent.
1:57.7	Matt Richtel is an award-winning journalist, an author who covers health and science for the New York Times.
2:03.1	Richtel has been covering the social impact of tech industry for as long as I've been covering
2:06.9	tech. In fact, we often competed with each other. His latest book, How We Grow Up, Understanding
2:12.0	Adolescence, draws on neuroscience and personal narratives to explore the changing complexities
	...

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