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Candice Odgers

@candiceodgers.bsky.social

Scientist, runner, Canadian still trying to figure out how to live in the US. Psychology Prof at UCI, who sometimes writes about why we should trust science and avoid panic to really help our kids.

139 Posts2562 Follower598 Folgt
Candice Odgers@candiceodgers.bsky.social · 5d ago

Wow, it turns out all those teens arrested in the teen takeovers, were not actually...teens. Mike Males asks whether we should stop blaming teens and start looking at what is going wrong with adults today (who were actually the ones arrested)... open.substack.com/pub/mikemale...

“Teen takeovers everywhere!”… except ... where are the teenagers?

Police statistics show no evidence of hundreds or thousands of teens “terrorizing streets,” “shutting down entire cities,” and causing “America’s biggest urban crisis.”

open.substack.com

UCLA Center for the Developing Adolescent@cda-adolescence.bsky.social · 3w ago

A new article from @theguardian.com focuses on NSCA member @candiceodgers.bsky.social's research on adolescent mental health & digital technology, discusses the new U.K. social media ban, and dives into the big issues driving changes in adolescent well-being: www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

The social media ban sceptic: are we getting it wrong on kids, tech and mental health?

Psychologist Candice Odgers has studied adolescent mental health for 25 years. She fears the current debate around smartphones obscures some of the biggest issues facing teenagers – from the impact of...

theguardian.com

Taylor Lorenz@taylorlorenz.bsky.social · 3w ago

“Social media is ‘one of the least influential factors’ in teen depression and anxiety; girls who are already depressed go on to use social media more, not the other way around.”

‘Social media bans are likely to make things worse’: psychologist Candice Odgers on kids, tech and mental health

She has studied adolescent mental health for 25 years and fears the debate obscures some of the biggest issues facing teenagers – from the impact of Covid to the health of their adult caregivers

theguardian.com

jenna newman phd@jennanewman.bsky.social · 3w ago

“No serious epidemiologist would reason in this way, @candiceodgers.bsky.social said. Both Gray & Haidt tended to downplay other obvious factors, such as the severe adult-MH crisis that unfolded during the same years.‘Caregiver mental health is by far the strongest predictor of childhood MH’.”🧪🛟

“Odgers, who also provided an endorsement for Restoring Childhood, told me that she appreciates the fact that the book is "broadening the conversation" about children's mental health to include "a major stressor as reported by young people, that we actually see in the data." But she expressed frustration at the logic used by Gray and Haidt alike. She noted their shared willingness to apply one explanation (video games, unleaded gas) to the mental-health improvements of the 1990s and 2000s, and then a completely different one (Common Core, social media) to a later section of the same trend line….”
Social Media Lab@socialmedialab.ca · 4w ago

"What if It’s Not the Phones? An evolutionary psychologist is challenging the popular understanding of kids and technology." www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...

Social Media Lab@socialmedialab.ca · 4w ago

"What if It’s Not the Phones? An evolutionary psychologist is challenging the popular understanding of kids and technology." www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...

What if It’s Not the Phones?

An evolutionary psychologist is challenging the popular understanding of kids and technology.

theatlantic.com

Social Media Lab@socialmedialab.ca · 8mo ago

When you squeeze a toothpaste tube with the cap closed, the paste still has to go somewhere. As Australia prepares to introduce its “world-leading” social media bans for children, it raises an important question: where will young people actually go online once the major platforms are off-limits?

Candice Odgers@candiceodgers.bsky.social · 4w ago

I just submitted my comment using this simple tool. Thank you @drruth.bsky.social for this free tool that allows more voices to be heard in stopping these proposed changes - that would be devastating for future advances in health, science, and technology.

Ruth Ann Crystal@drruth.bsky.social · 4w ago

$1.1 trillion in federal grants is on the line, including Medicaid, Head Start, and community health centers. Learn about a free tool that I built to help you write your public comment in <5 minutes. 🔗 drruth.substack.com/p/i-built-yo... Deadline: July 13. Every voice counts. #medsky #2CFR200

Brad Lander@bradlander.bsky.social · 4w ago

I was back in Immigration Court this week, this time for the hearing of a sweet little three-year-old girl, I’ll call her Estrella. She’s been in federal custody, separated from her family for more than 10 months – even though her mom lives here in NYC. The cruelty is truly mind-boggling. 🧵

Taylor Lorenz@taylorlorenz.bsky.social · last mo.

The govt’s effort to remove anonymity from social media/the internet is not remotely about “protecting children”, it’s about enabling stuff like this

Taniel@taniel.bsky.social · last mo.

Two ICE agents tracked down a woman *inside a polling place* yesterday. Why? They demanded that she take down an Instagram post in which she named Jonathan Ross as the man who shot & killed Renee Good (after the Star Tribune identified Ross). www.syracuse.com/news/2026/06...

Candice Odgers@candiceodgers.bsky.social · last mo.

Mike Males always has high quality data on hand to support his case - here he uses CDC data to illustrate why caregiver mental health to be included in any conversation we have about increasing rates of teen mental health problems. open.substack.com/pub/mikemale...

Psychologist Candice Odgers’ compelling TED talk: "What we're getting wrong about teens and tech"

Odgers has been a scholarly, engaging (and to “ban teens” crusaders, enraging) advocate for youths’ online rights. Her new TED talk is forceful and deserves policy attention.

open.substack.com

Candice Odgers@candiceodgers.bsky.social · last mo.

Great conversation with Manoush Zomorodi @npr.org about social media and mental health and what we can do, beyond bans and blame, to support teen mental health today. www.npr.org/2026/06/26/n...

A psychologist makes the case against social media bans for kids

More countries are enacting policies to restrict teens' social media and smartphone use. But developmental psychologist Candice Odgers says that won't address the bigger problems facing teens today.

npr.org

Taylor Lorenz@taylorlorenz.bsky.social · last mo.

If you watch one thing today make it this. Absolutely phenomenal debunking of the idea that social media and cell phones are causing a youth mental health crisis, and who that false narrative ultimately serves

What we're getting wrong about teens and tech

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 u...

ted.com

The Connected Learning Lab@thecllab.bsky.social · last mo.

“Instead of fixing the online world...we are punishing victims by taking away the places that they go to connect with friends, consume youth culture, and sadly, often escape people who are harming them offline.” NEW @candiceodgers.bsky.social Ted Talk: go.ted.com/candiceodgers #ConnectedLearning

What we're getting wrong about teens and tech

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 u...

go.ted.com

Candice Odgers@candiceodgers.bsky.social · last mo.

The more often you hear something, the more likely you are to believe that it is true. But please, don't believe everything you hear about teens today. Science and how well they are doing, despite the suffering of adults around them, tells a different story.

Candice Odgers@candiceodgers.bsky.social · last mo.

Scary stories about teens sell. The data tells a different story. After decades studying adolescent mental health, here's what I found: This isn't an anxious generation. It's a resilient one. Let's start treating them that way. go.ted.com/candiceodgers

What we're getting wrong about teens and tech

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 u...

go.ted.com

Gregg Gonsalves@gregggonsalves.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Holden Thorp is an institutionalist. He's been a university chancellor, provost, now EiC of Science. When institutionalists pull the fire alarm, we listen, because the call to action he issued this week exposes the dire nature of the threat we are facing. 1/ www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Another red alert for American science

Although research has bipartisan support in the US Congress, and trust in science is above 75% across the country, the Trump administration seems as determined as ever to mortally wound the nation’s s...

science.org

Mike Yassa@mikeyassa.bsky.social · 2mo ago

I am recruiting an exceptional postdoc to join my lab at UC Irvine. Must be a productive researcher with experience in functional neuroimaging, network neuroscience, AI/ML, who is interested in aging, neuropsychiatric or neurodegenerative illness. www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/44...

UC Irvine hiring Postdoctoral Researcher in Irvine, CA | LinkedIn

Posted 12:31:04 AM. Postdoctoral Fellow – Neuroimaging, Network Neuroscience &amp; AI/ML in Cognitive DisordersYassa Lab |…See this and similar jobs on LinkedIn.

linkedin.com

Candice Odgers@candiceodgers.bsky.social · 2mo ago

“The pitch behind all of this is simple and confident: pull teenagers off the platforms and their mental health will improve. There is just one awkward problem with that pitch…” scienceblog.com/governments-...

Governments Are Banning Teens from Social Media Without Any Evidence It Will Help

Australia switched it on in December. Anyone under 16, locked out of their social media accounts, by law. France, Spain, Denmark, Norway, India, Egypt and

scienceblog.com

Monika Neff Lind@monikanlind.bsky.social · 2mo ago

We looked for the experimental evidence showing that social media bans benefit youth... and found nothing. Like, lots of studies with null results? No, literally nothing-- there are no experimental studies of social media restriction that target minors like these bans do. Check out our new paper!

Frontiers | We don't know how social media bans will affect youth but we're doing it anyway!

Around the world, governments are banning youth from social media. Proponents of bans claim that banning or restricting social media access is necessary to c...

frontiersin.org

jenna newman phd@jennanewman.bsky.social · 3mo ago

“Since 2020, firearms have been the leading cause of death among children & teens. While a majority of those deaths are due to homicides, a significant % are suicides”🛟🧪 Safe & secure gun storage—unloaded & locked up—saves lives. Spread the word: Firearm violence prevention is everyone's job.

“An estimated 32 million children in the United States live in homes with firearms, nearly 7 million of whom have at least one firearm in the household that's unlocked and loaded. That's according to a new study published in JAMA Network Open. "This study sheds further light on the fact that there are millions of kids living in this country, in households where weapons are readily available and often not locked up," says Dr. Chethan Sathya, a pediatric surgeon and director of the Center for Gun Violence Prevention at North yell Health, a health system in New York. "Many of these families don't know the risk of having that gun not being locked up."
NPR@npr.org · 3mo ago

The new study in JAMA Network Open also finds that more parents leave their guns loaded and unlocked when they have teenagers, despite the fact that suicide risk goes up for this age group. n.pr/4d55sxr