Teens & Tech | Dr. Jean Twenge

Parenting today often feels like an uphill battle, with technology invading every corner of our kids’ lives. From the rise of social media addiction to the growing mental health crisis among children and teens, parents are grappling with how they can create a healthy, balanced relationship with technology for their kids.

In this interview, Dr. Jean Twenge draws on her decades as a psychologist studying the impact of technology and mental health and her personal experience as the mother of three teenagers. She describes how technology is harming children, how that harm has grown in recent years, the damage social media usage, video gaming, and pornography consumption are doing to the minds of teens, and the ways in which she would like lawmakers to regulate tech usage among teens and younger children. Dr. Twenge also shares the risks AI companions pose to teen development and, drawing from her book 10 Rules for Raising Kids in a High-Tech World, she provides guidance for ways in which parents and teachers can help raise independent, well-rounded children in a tech-centric world.

Dr. Jean M. Twenge, Professor of Psychology at San Diego State University, is the author of more than 190 scientific publications and books. Her books include 10 Rules for Raising Kids in a High-Tech World, Generations, iGen, Generation Me, and others.

Dr. Twenge frequently gives talks and seminars on generational differences and technology based on a dataset of 43 million people. Her research has been covered in Time, Newsweek, The New York Times, USA Today, U.S. News and World Report, and The Washington Post, and she has been featured on Today, Good Morning America, CBS This Morning, Real Time with Bill Maher, Meet the Press, Fox and Friends, NBC Nightly News, Dateline NBC, and National Public Radio.

She holds a BA and MA from the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan.