AI Is the New Social Media. Can We Protect Kids This Time?

We’re still reckoning with the effects of social media on young people’s mental health. Now, with artificial intelligence rapidly becoming part of our everyday lives, we’re at risk of making the same mistakes all over again.

In this live conversation from SXSW EDU, Dr. Laurie is joined by Bruce Reed — head of AI at Common Sense Media and former White House deputy chief of staff — to explore how social media and AI are shaping young people’s happiness and wellbeing, and what parents, educators, and policymakers can do to help kids thrive in an increasingly AI-driven world.

Experts Mentioned:

• Jean Twenge, Professor of Psychology at San Diego State University
• Bruce Reed, Head of AI at Common Sense Media
• Catherine Price, science journalist
• Vivek Murthy, former Surgeon General of the United States
• Cass Sunstein, Professor at Harvard Law School
• Elizabeth Dunn, Professor of Psychology at the University of British Columbia
• Nicholas Epley, Professor of Behavioral Science at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business
• Michael Inzlicht, Professor of Psychology at the University of Toronto
• Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Professor of Psychology and Management at Claremont Graduate University and “the father of flow”
• Robyn Koslowitz, clinical psychologist and parenting educator
• David Yeager, Professor of Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin
• Jonathan Haidt, Professor of Business and Society at New York University
• Kristin Neff, Associate Professor of Educational Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin
• Jamil Zaki, Professor of Psychology at Stanford University

Resources Mentioned:

• “Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?,” by Jean Twenge (The Atlantic, 2017)
• “The Common Sense Census: Media Use by Kids Zero to Eight,” (Common Sense Media, 2025)
• How to Break Up with Your Phone, (07:33) by Catherine Price (2018)
• “Constant Companion: A Week in the Life of a Young Person's Smartphone Use,” (Common Sense Media, 2023)
• “Social Media and Youth Mental Health,” (The U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory, 2023)
• “Social media, wasting time, and product traps,” by Cass Sunstein (World Happiness Report, 2026)
• “Teens and Mental Health: How Girls Really Feel About Social Media,” (Common Sense Media, 2023)
• “Teens and social media: Key findings from Pew Research Center surveys,” by Emily A. Vogels and Risa Gelles-Watnick (Pew Research Center, 2023)
• “Scroll With Caution: Another State Requires Social Media Warning Labels,” by Jennifer Vilcarino (Education Week, 2026)
• “From Australia to Europe, countries move to curb children's social media access,” (Reuters, 2026)
• “Australia’s Social Media Ban Is Floundering. Can It Still Help Younger Kids?,” by Victoria Kim (The New York Times, 2026)
• “Mark Zuckerberg Thinks AI 'Friends' Can Solve The Loneliness Crisis. Here's What AI Experts Think.,” by Brittany Wong (HuffPost, 2025)
• The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness, (32:24) by Jonathan Haidt (2024)
• “Social AI Companions Risk Assessment,” (Common Sense Media, 2025)
• “Talk, Trust, and Trade-Offs: How and Why Teens Use AI Companions,” (Common Sense Media, 2025)
• “A Teen Was Suicidal. ChatGPT Was the Friend He Confided In.,” by Kashmir Hill (The New York Times, 2025)
• “How Does Turning to AI for Companionship Predict Loneliness and Vice Versa?,” by Dunigan Folk and Elizabeth Dunn (Psychological Science, 2026)
• “Is a random human peer better than a highly supportive chatbot in reducing loneliness over time?,” by Ruo-Ning Li, Dunigan Folk, Abhay Singh, Lyle Ungar, and Elizabeth Dunn (Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 2026)
• A Little More Social: How Small Choices Create Unexpected Happiness, Health, and Connection, by Nicholas Epley (2026)
• “The Effort Paradox: Effort Is Both Costly and Valued,” by Michael Inzlicht, Amitai Shenhav, and Christopher Y Olivola (Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 2018)
• “The IKEA effect: When labor leads to love,” by Michael Norton, Daniel Mochon, and Dan Ariely (Journal of Consumer Psychology, 2012)
• Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1990)
• “Generation Al: What Kids and Families Think About Al,” (Common Sense Media, 2026)
• “Collaborative Problem Solving reduces children's emotional and behavioral difficulties and parenting stress: Two key mechanisms,” by Georgina Heath, Christopher Fife-Schaw, Lu Wang, Christopher Eddy, Michael Hone, Alisha Pollastri (Journal of Clinical Psychology, 2020)
• 10 to 25: The Science of Motivating Young People, (30:52) by David Yeager (2024)
• The Amazing Generation: Your Guide to Fun and Freedom in a Screen-Filled World, (32:21) by Jonathan Haidt and Catherine Price (2025)
• “The benefits of radical acceptance of reality as a standalone strategy for emotion regulation,” by Or Segal, Karin Bronshtein, and Noam Weinbach (Current Psychology, 2025)
• Self-Compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself, by Kristin Neff (2011)
• Hope for Cynics: The Surprising Science of Human Goodness, (40:38) by Jamil Zaki (2024)

Related Episodes:

• “What is Social Media Doing to Kids? with Dr. Jean Twenge”
• “Why You’re Still Using Social Media (Even If You Want to Stop) with Dr. Cass Sunstein”
• “Reducing the Stress of Parenting with Dr Vivek Murthy”
• “How Smartphones Changed Childhood (And What to do About it)”
• “How to Think Like a Child (with David Yeager)”

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