Why Is My Teen Always On Their Phone Or Devices? Episodes
Wondering when your child should get their first phone? Worried about TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, YouTube, gaming, sexting, online predators, cyberbullying or screen addiction?You're not alone.Technology is changing faster than most parents can keep up. Every new app, device and social media platform brings fresh opportunities—but also new risks.
This playlist from the award-winning Teenagers Untangled podcast brings together expert interviews and practical parenting advice to answer the biggest questions parents ask about teenagers, phones, apps, gaming, devices and social media.
This playlist will help you think about:
📱 When should a child get their first phone?
📱 How much screen time is too much?
📱 Which social media apps are safest?
📱 TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram and YouTube—what parents need to know
📱 How to set healthy phone boundaries
📱 Should phones be allowed in bedrooms?
📱 How to protect your child from online grooming and sextortion
📱 Cyberbullying and what to do about it
📱 Online pornography and how to talk about it
📱 Gaming, and online friendships
📱 Helping teenagers build healthy relationships with technology
📱 How to have conversations that work instead of constant battles over phones
These episodes don't rely on fear or scare stories. Instead, they explain the evidence behind today's biggest online risks while giving parents practical tools to build trust, encourage critical thinking and help teenagers become responsible digital citizens.
Whether you're introducing your child's first smartphone, navigating social media, worrying about excessive screen time or trying to keep up with the latest apps, this playlist gives you reliable, research-based guidance you can trust.
This playlist from the award-winning Teenagers Untangled podcast brings together expert interviews and practical parenting advice to answer the biggest questions parents ask about teenagers, phones, apps, gaming, devices and social media.
This playlist will help you think about:
📱 When should a child get their first phone?
📱 How much screen time is too much?
📱 Which social media apps are safest?
📱 TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram and YouTube—what parents need to know
📱 How to set healthy phone boundaries
📱 Should phones be allowed in bedrooms?
📱 How to protect your child from online grooming and sextortion
📱 Cyberbullying and what to do about it
📱 Online pornography and how to talk about it
📱 Gaming, and online friendships
📱 Helping teenagers build healthy relationships with technology
📱 How to have conversations that work instead of constant battles over phones
These episodes don't rely on fear or scare stories. Instead, they explain the evidence behind today's biggest online risks while giving parents practical tools to build trust, encourage critical thinking and help teenagers become responsible digital citizens.
Whether you're introducing your child's first smartphone, navigating social media, worrying about excessive screen time or trying to keep up with the latest apps, this playlist gives you reliable, research-based guidance you can trust.
Sept. 13, 2026
A Better Way for Parents to talk to Teens About Screen Time: Fear Less & Wonder More
Ask Rachel anything We’re living through an age where it can feel like our teenagers’ entire lives are happening behind a screen we can’t see. Meanwhile mental health problems in teens are a rising problem that is being blamed on their devices. The instinctive response for many of us is to clamp down: ban certain apps, monitor every move, or take away devices altogether. But as Professor Candice Odgers put it so powerfully: “You can’t ban your way out of a mental health crisis. Yo...
Guest: Katharine Radice
2
Sept. 9, 2026
Why social media bans won't work and what we parents can do: Professor Candice Odgers
Ask Rachel anything Are smartphones and social media really damaging our teenagers’ mental health – or are we looking in the wrong place? In this episode, Rachel Richards talks with Professor Candice Odgers, a leading expert on adolescent mental health in the digital age, to unpack what decades of research actually show about teens, tech and wellbeing. We explore why today’s teenagers are doing better than many headlines suggest, the real size of the link between phones, social media, anxiety...
Guest: Candice Odgers
204
Aug. 19, 2026
My Teen Has No Friends: Loneliness, Friendship and How Parents Can Explain & Model the Skill
Ask Rachel anything So many parents come to me saying 'My teen has no friends. What should I do?' and I can't help wondering if we are missing one of the most important ways to help them. Being good at friendships ourselves. Think about it. If we're not good at making and maintaining friends ourselves, who will our babies learn their friendship skills from? In this episode of Teenagers Untangled, I’m joined by author, broadcaster, and founder of The Friendship Lab, Sheridan Voysey, to unpack ...