What we're getting wrong about teens and tech | Candice Odgers | Your Body on Tech
TED Talks Daily
TED
4.1 • 12.1K Ratings
🗓️ 23 June 2026
⏱️ 54 minutes
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Summary
Trigger warning - this episode contains mention of suicide and severe depression.
For years, the warning has been: smartphones are destroying a generation. But developmental psychologist Candice Odgers says that decades of data on teens tells a different story — violence, alcohol use and pregnancy are at historic lows, and research shows social media may not actually be the culprit for mental health problems. Hear her analysis of what’s really troubling kids these days, and why banning them from online spaces may make things worse. And stick around after her talk for a deep dive conversation with our guest host for the week, author and podcaster Manoush Zomorodi, into the ideas she shared on stage and beyond.
This is episode two of a seven-part series airing this week on TED Talks Daily, where Manoush — and the seven speakers she curated for TED2026 — explore how you can live a healthier life in our high-tech era.
To hear more from Manoush, listen to TED Radio Hour wherever you get your podcasts. Check out her new book, Body Electric, to learn more about the hidden health costs of the digital age.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You're listening to TED Talks Daily, where we bring you new ideas and conversations to spark your curiosity every day. |
| 0:10.7 | Hello, I am Manushe Zamoroti. I'm a journalist, an author, a two-time TED speaker. I also host NPR's TED Radio Hour podcast. |
| 0:20.6 | And this week, I'm taking over for Elise |
| 0:22.7 | Hugh with a special series of episodes all about how you can live a healthier life in our |
| 0:29.2 | high-tech era. So this past April, I curated a session at TED 2026, full of speakers whose work |
| 0:36.8 | will make you think differently about your body, |
| 0:39.2 | your technology, and what is keeping us human in this digital age? |
| 0:43.7 | Every day this week, you're going to hear one of these talks and then a deeper conversation |
| 0:47.1 | that I had with these incredible speakers. |
| 0:49.7 | Really, they are incredible. |
| 0:51.5 | Today, we're talking about the relationship between kids, screens, and social media. |
| 0:57.9 | It's a fraught topic. Most of us have heard how harmful tech can be for kids and their mental health. |
| 1:04.6 | But child psychologist Candice Odgers says that much of what we've been told is not based on solid science. |
| 1:12.2 | In our longitudinal studies, social media does not emerge as a major predictor of teen mental health. |
| 1:18.9 | Many others find the same, including, and I'm going to quote, that social media is one of the least |
| 1:25.6 | influential factors in predicting teen mental health. |
| 1:29.1 | Candice researches teens and screens at UC Irvine. |
| 1:32.8 | She has spent years interviewing them and tracking them, with their permission, of course, |
| 1:38.5 | seeing what they do on their phones and in their daily lives. |
| 1:42.9 | And I came across her work when I was trying to learn more about how we could be most effective |
| 1:49.0 | in coaching kids to use their devices responsibly and spend less time on them. |
| 1:55.0 | But the more I dug into Candace's work, the more I started to wonder if we should be looking less at the tech |
... |
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