She supports tighter regulation of tech platforms, including prosecuting perpetrators of sextortion and image-based abuse.
However, she believes bans are ineffective and divert resources from proven solutions like funding more teachers and school counsellors.
“All this energy could be going into building things versus banning things,” she says.
She also warns that restrictions do not address how to help children develop a healthy relationship with artificial intelligence.
Odgers’ recent TED Talk, “What we’re getting wrong about kids and tech,” highlights that teenagers today are better educated and less violent than previous generations.
“Teenagers today are amazing,” she says.
She urges policymakers not to make decisions out of fear.
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“We would not accept this level of evidence for other things that harm our children,” she says, comparing the social media debate to blaming purple dye for childhood leukemia.
