AI is impacting every part of our lives—and we need to start paying more attention.
Watch this urgent and deeply personal conversation with youth advocate Ava Smithing, host of the podcast Left to Their Own Devices, whose work sits at the intersection of social media, online safety, youth mental health and digital well-being.
We discuss:
What parents, educators and policy-makers need to understand about AI chatbots, social media, and online safety
How social media platforms profit by exploiting young people’s insecurities, attention, and personal data
How AI companions may weaken children’s resilience, relationships, and connection with their parents
Why the attention economy threatens not only our mental health—but our privacy, agency, and empathy
If you care about protecting children’s mental health, cognitive agency and relationships in an online world increasingly shaped by AI—you don’t want to miss this conversation.
00:00 Preview
00:52 Episode introduction
02:49 About Ava Smithing06:02 Ava’s backstory
07:09 How social media algorithms pushed Ava into a near-fatal eating disorder at age 12
13:41 How young people can resist social media pressure and reclaim their identities
17:28 Why a social media break/detox can improve happiness and well-being
22:54 What is the “Attention Economy” — and why is it harmful?27:19 Why AI chatbots may be dangerous for children's development
31:48 What happens when children trust AI more than their parents?
34:17 What lawmakers misunderstand about protecting children online
38:50 Ava’s reflection on testifying to Congress
44:40 Why big tech’s power is becoming a threat to democracy
48:25 The Attention Sphere: Ava’s non-profit organization, committed to designing tech that strengthens real-world community
50:42 Why banning children from social media may not solve the problem
54:17 Why data privacy and antitrust laws are essential for online safety
57:07 How growing up online is affecting Gen Z’s capacity for empathy
01:01:54 Ava Smithing’s Purposeful Empathy story
Episode #2 of Empathy in the Age of AI part II, a special 25-part series: https://tinyurl.com/exyw2nua
CONNECT WITH AVA
✩ LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/ava-smithing-8485931b4/
✩ Website https://theattentionstudio.com
✩ Podcast https://www.mediatechdemocracy.com/podcasts-left-to-their-own-devices
CONNECT WITH ANITA
✩ Email purposefulempathy@gmail.com
✩ Website https://www.anitanowak.com
✩ Buy a copy of Purposeful Empathy http://tiny.cc/PurposefulEmpathyCA
✩ LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/anitanowak/
✩ Instagram https://tinyurl.com/anitanowakinstagram
✩ Podcast Audio https://tinyurl.com/PurposefulEmpathyPodcast
✩ Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/anitanowak.bsky.social
SHOW NOTES
✩ Ava’s Testimonial before the U.S. Congress: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJewHYRUKjE
✩ Ava’s Testimonial before the U.S. Congress https://www.congress.gov/118/meeting/house/117146/witnesses/HHRG-118-IF17-Wstate-SmithingA-20240417.pdf
✩ Op-Ed: Social media nearly ruined my life. This is how I saved myself — and how we save kids today https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/social-media-nearly-ruined-my-life-this-is-how-i-saved-myself-and-how-we/article_f97fd1ea-53f3-420c-b276-9bcd7fc153ad.html
Video edited by Jad Misri, Green Horizon Studio
