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. (Recorded at TED2026 on April 15, 2026)
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@Rob.Chapman
July 2, 2026 at 11:51 am
Those shouting loudest about social media bans to protect teen mental health, know full well that the mental health of young people was just as bad back in the days before the internet existed. The main difference between then and now is that for those that did suffer with mental health problems, they couldn’t get help they needed and were very often not believed when they spoke up. Instead of parents, teachers educating the young, who will eventually become adults, we’re just going to lazily pull the rug out from under them…what a messed up childhood those who govern us and make policy for us all must have had, let us hope we don’t do something to mess the lives up of the next generation of potential leaders!
@colditzjb
July 2, 2026 at 12:01 pm
I feel like I’ve just been gaslit by a TED Talk. This is a masterclass in tech-positive propaganda, straw man arguments, distraction from the sociopolitical issues, and fear mongering about kids. Note that the takeaway here is to maintain the digital status quo, while waving a magic wand to fix parents, build communities, and support teachers with tax resources that aren’t actually available.
Here’s the rational plan: Ban the platforms from accessing kids – do it immediately! THEN let the tech execs plead for access AFTER they start paying taxes and cleaning up their act. I’m tired of tech-positive researchers pretending that the tech industry and regulators are ever going to put progress ahead of profits… because we asked nicely? After we wave around Dr Odgers’ data showing that tech is only a minor problem?
@clorofilaazul
July 2, 2026 at 12:41 pm
I totally agree.
@1MysteryZ1967
July 2, 2026 at 1:11 pm
@colditzjb agreed. Citizens United has a huge portion of responsibility in that.
@n.chabot1217
July 2, 2026 at 2:27 pm
People disagreeing with you is not “gaslighting.”
@smnbr
July 2, 2026 at 4:02 pm
Thank you very much for your comment. Was looking for someone that already wrote this down! Social media harms brains. Science says it. Full stop.
@n.chabot1217
July 2, 2026 at 5:20 pm
@smnbr If you think it harms brains then why are you using it right now?
@jvee1172
July 2, 2026 at 12:02 pm
Guarantee that her “research” is backed by Silicon Valley. What a clown.
@betopatricio3942
July 2, 2026 at 12:17 pm
Sponsored by Meta…the DATA is unequivocal and on top of that teens themselves are dropping social media (unaided). This is why you should never pass qualitative data as fact. A Prime example is all the surveys that predicted a Drumpf loss. Social media companies should be accountable for kids abuse and elder abuse as well. Plus parents need to stop giving their kids screens as a substitute for parenting
@homewall724
July 2, 2026 at 12:34 pm
The push for safety is the worst good intention humans suffer.
@clorofilaazul
July 2, 2026 at 12:39 pm
I remember when I used to come to TED talk to learn something new with each new video. Now… It’s this… What a pity. (Sorry to the speaker, no harm intended).
@MJ1
July 2, 2026 at 12:50 pm
Just like guns don’t kill people.
@thiagorinu
July 2, 2026 at 1:03 pm
I really don,t understand the hate against the talker. She brings an interesting and worth considering facet to explain the mental health crisis, which is a multifaceted issue. She could have shown some data to support her point of view though, since the lack of data is her main claim against Jonathan Haidt’s perspective.
@vortbio
July 2, 2026 at 1:55 pm
Because she’s wrong. There are plenty of studies linking social media use to issues with mental health. There are studies that show limiting social media use improve mental health. I have also never heard anyone blame social media for all of the problems faced by young people so it seems like a straw man argument.
@thiagorinu
July 2, 2026 at 2:08 pm
@vortbioAgree!
@goatnicholson
July 2, 2026 at 1:19 pm
Yes it is the phones. This is probably corporate propaganda.
@ThomGustavsson-ir3lt
July 2, 2026 at 1:19 pm
“If all we see is a kid with a phone…” all the kids see are adults with phones… so they are like adults?
@a_nomdeplume
July 2, 2026 at 1:31 pm
I think that neurologist Dr. Jared Cooney Horvath would disagree with this woman, as do I.
@ajayheree
July 2, 2026 at 2:03 pm
I personally feel like mental health is like a thing that we keep on sayin to ourself like when ever im mentally affected i say myself the best possible things and eventually it passes but anyways what she suggests is also a great idea as well
@Aeonhem
July 2, 2026 at 2:43 pm
Punctuation wouldn’t go astray…
@Yokibrewster
July 2, 2026 at 2:15 pm
There are thousands of girls being digitally taken advantage of in the worst sadistic ways possible due to social media and predators. And there are not enough awareness of it because it exposing it for what it actually is would make it worse. Anything this woman is talking about is 🌈🌈🌈🌈 and they want that for kids. They are the ones that defend it.
@n.chabot1217
July 2, 2026 at 2:28 pm
Banning social media won’t fix anything. What we need is for kids to have more places to go to that aren’t home and school.
@Mehlo...
July 2, 2026 at 2:31 pm
Hey, remember that time where banning something definitively solved a problem? … me neither.
@Pkmn20
July 2, 2026 at 3:53 pm
Legislation against cigarette smoking has been good for minimising COPD and its health consequences. Bans e.g. on indoor smoking are one aspect of this
@clayfs17
July 2, 2026 at 2:52 pm
As a teacher, I don’t buy her argument. There is a HUGE difference between students now and students ten years ago, and there is plenty of data to support the fact that this is mostly caused by excessive screen use. This speech seems to be contrarian for the sake of playing devil’s advocate and not much else.
@alexdamaceno
July 2, 2026 at 3:27 pm
I was a teen in the 90s and there was always a scapegoat for bad teenage behavior: TV, videogames, heavy metal music, comics, and now social media. Are these kids raising themselves, alone, away from society?
@lauravognar4253
July 2, 2026 at 3:40 pm
I have an idea about the depression and social media correlation. Discipline the social media use to only when you’re feeling very secure in yourself.
@toolthoughts
July 2, 2026 at 4:47 pm
“Mental health” is a trillion dollar industry that offers no actual solutions. Best you can hope for is being dependent on strong and risky drugs. At worst you get disabled for life from their “treatments”, or maybe shoot up a school when on randomly prescribed psychoactives.
@BrianMcInnis87
July 2, 2026 at 4:55 pm
Answer: Because it’s impossible. You can’t ban language.
@barrythomas6899
July 2, 2026 at 4:56 pm
“So a Social Media ban might feel good for the adults in the room but Teens tell me, and I believe them, it’s not going to work.”
My teenage daughter told me the same thing before the ban here in Australia – she now tells me the exact opposite, that she had been addicted and would have told us anything to stay online, to desperately stay on her accounts. She still has her phone. She still connects with friends online. She still reads the latest goss. The difference? She is not targeted. She is free to be addicted to her phone – that hasn’t changed – but she is now safer in that addiction and that addiction is another issue to manage.
@kimiarezaei-x9w
July 2, 2026 at 4:57 pm
Very insightful
@JonDoee2343
July 2, 2026 at 5:27 pm
This TED Talk is brought to you by Meta.
@regane.bartko7247
July 2, 2026 at 8:45 pm
I’m in favour of a ban on social media for everybody.
@shelleycurreen1182
July 3, 2026 at 7:24 am
Hey if you dont want to use social media then dont. For most of us Facebook has been an amazing tool for connecting to and maintaining friendships, especially with those from over seas.
YouTube is a great educational tool for adults and children.
Its really just about using it for positive gains.
Tomorrow im going to pick up some woolworths Lego somebody offered free online. I wouldn’t be able to do that without community pages. My daughter gets free Lego to add to her creations.
I’m a responsible parent. I monitor what my daughter is consuming. That’s our job.
@jpiccirllo27
July 2, 2026 at 9:01 pm
Very smart woman. She’s backing things up with data. I’d like to see this data. I was a teacher for over 25 years in public school. Many of the teens are rude narcissistic bad people who have gotten a pass. It pains me to say this but I witnessed this. I grew up in the 1970’s and 1980’s. People weren’t so great than too.
@saranbhatia8809
July 2, 2026 at 10:09 pm
Yes, community based solutions are the way forward.
@mnc303
July 2, 2026 at 11:03 pm
I wonder if the speaker is an employee of Meta… hmm 😒
@THW013
July 3, 2026 at 12:04 am
*This is an Interesting point of view. Thanks for the talk. Also, a very wonderful presentation.*
@niccolom
July 3, 2026 at 12:07 am
Thank you!
That’s one TED Talk opinion piece that I agree with.
Banning anything always makes that thing more mysterious, and thus attractive.
The moment those kids reach 16 years old, they will be more addicted than anyone right now to social media.
@CenturyWisdom-q5w
July 3, 2026 at 12:34 am
This talk hit me hard. It exposes a painful truth: we’re blaming kids’ screens instead of fixing the broken world we handed them. Realizing that adult distress and systemic failures hurt teens far more than apps is deeply unsettling. A ban is just a lazy cop-out.
@Whiteoyster
July 3, 2026 at 7:45 pm
@CenturyWisdom-q5w elders have been handing down broken worlds to the next generation for a long long time.
Did you know that adults freaked out about youth playing chess when it was a new game? Saying chess was a waste of time and would rot the brains of youth.
Did you know that the last pandemic (Spanish flu I think) had people protesting against masks? Same as people did during covid.
My point being, adults have to be better, and do better.
Let’s fix the world instead of make it worse for every next generation, and stop blaming the youth for the crappy situation they were born into.
*edit. I reread this and it sounded a bit adversarial. My comment is agreeing with you, and backing up your comment.
@steveshepherd333
July 3, 2026 at 1:28 am
What will be very interesting is to look at the statistics/data/evidence, from the countries where social a media ban has and is going to be banned from 16-year-olds et cetera.
It’s all very well looking at data, but you need to get data from across-the-board! I see a deterioration in the mental health of many children who constantly have their phones in their hands, unfortunately the parents have no say over the matter anymore, raise your voice to a child, and the child will report to an authority that they’re being bullied!
Also, the brains of younger children, teens, has the advantage, or disadvantage, whichever way you look at it, in neuroplasticity.
Younger brains are now developing and evolving into a trigger-response, due to constantly clicking on social media and such sites. This is nothing to do with the very harmful content that is also online, and which is a separate entity.
There has been some really interesting results and information feedback, where experiments have been done with young people, and when they have had their mobile devices taken away from them for a period of time. They learn to interact with humans in a kinder and more sociable way, they are reading more, they are playing more, and doing what brains were supposed to do, evolving naturally at a slower pace at that younger age! They are being children!!!
@pf7473
July 3, 2026 at 2:35 am
You saved the best till last! Accountability by, and tax on, tech companies needs MUCH more action.
@stephscro
July 3, 2026 at 3:20 am
Make America read again and talk on the phone again and connect again…the phones are apart of it
@Paulinabrook-x99
July 3, 2026 at 6:57 am
As a teenager myself I use social media to ease my stress and escape from my tiring life. My daily routine is quite repetitive and is filled with school, extra classes and so on. I rarely hang out with my friends not because I’m phone addicted, but because of my busy schedule. Moreover, have to use my phone for other important tasks as well, not just for entertainment. Still, adults around me said I’m always on my phone.
@Paulinabrook-x99
July 3, 2026 at 6:58 am
Sorry if i made mistakes, I’m not a native.
@shelleycurreen1182
July 3, 2026 at 7:12 am
2019-2021 was when we had Covid and all the lock downs. That more than anything else has had a massive effect on mental health and associated problem behaviors. Those lock downs affected more than just socialization and support systems. It made health care harder to access. Wait times are far to long to be of any real use. Job losses, higher expenses. Its all related. And what do our youth have to look forward too? Even if they study and get qualifications there probably is no job out there for them.
@karangrewal_
July 3, 2026 at 7:32 am
8:38 Statement of the Year!!!
@drpepa09
July 3, 2026 at 7:57 am
Go read Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now by Jaron Lanier
@user-i9t2u
July 3, 2026 at 8:10 am
Enablers mentality, she wants to be the cool mom
@Matiasss200
July 3, 2026 at 8:19 am
i think its 90% reason wealth inequality and material conditions that lead to too much stress
@DrawLove
July 3, 2026 at 10:37 am
DISCO music is to blame! Burn all your disco records! Also, it’s that satanic heavy metal music’s fault! oh yeah, and it’s also the wacky tobacky’s fault. Adults have been blaming just about everything except themselves for the world they’ve created which kids and teens live in.
@jamesn7305
July 3, 2026 at 11:14 am
Social media is good for teens mental health. They use it as a way to connect and remain socially connected
@JackIanLin
July 3, 2026 at 12:38 pm
Let’s get Candice Odgers and Jonathan Haidt to compare and contrast their studies and proposals.
@BrockandStone
July 3, 2026 at 3:21 pm
I still think there have been studies looking at things like the use of AI and short form video scrolling to be linked with lowered critical thinking and even literacy issues (when you can speech to text and text to audio(.
There’s also echo chambers.
I think it can be true adults and certain uses of social media are causing problems.
@geoffwaters1911
July 3, 2026 at 8:37 pm
The social media ban, IMO, is simply a Trojan Horse for digital I.D.