Alexis was a typical 11-year-old. She loved musical theater and Webkinz. But when she started using Instagram, her normal pre-teen curiosities triggered the social media app to flood her feed with content about anorexia and how to hide eating disorders from your parents. Over the next few years, Alexis' mental health deteriorated so much that she had to be hospitalized. Some families aren't so lucky.
Teen suicide rates have skyrocketed since 2007, and some research has begun to correlate that with the rise of algorithmic, for-profit social media. Platforms like Instagram and TikTok have become central to teenagers social lives, and it's probably not an accident.
Today, Alexis Spence has made a full recovery from her eating disorder, and with her mom Kathleen, has become an advocate for social media reform, especially through legal action. Alli and Lindsey talk with them, along with their lawyer, Matt Bergman, who co-founded the Social Media Victims Law Center. When suing Meta on behalf of families, his legal approach comes from product liability: If tech companies know their products are addictive and harmful to children and choose not to address that, they should be held accountable.
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203 Alli Went to the "Reptile Super Show" and Lived to Tell About It
202 The Open Insulin Project
201 Disney Bounders
200 Study Streamers
199 Aisle of Shame (ALDI Supermarket Fandom)
198 Bricks in Motion: LEGO Animation Community
197 Douglas Rushkoff: How Should We Redesign the Internet?
[Encore] 93 Macrophilia (July 22, 2019)
196 Santa's Little Helpers
195 Why Internet Accessibility Is More Important Than Ever
194 @BachelorData
[Encore Episode] 134 WeRateDogs (@dog_rates / Matt Nelson)
193 NaNoWriMo
192 Going to Camp With Donald Glover
191 Xtrades: Stock Trading Communities of Discord
190 Doximity: Why "LinkedIn for Doctors" Is Full of Medical Misinformation
189 Occult and Witchcraft Communities
[Encore Episode] 96 Why Is There So Much Sonic the Hedgehog Porn? (August 12, 2019)
188 Delivery Workers of Facebook
187 Online Farmers Markets
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