Rethinking Youth Mental Health Online with Dr. Michael Rich

Today, Jaansi sits down with Dr. Michael Rich, also known as the Mediatrician, to explore how digital media and technology shape adolescent identity and connection. Together, they discuss why screens themselves aren’t the problem, how digital tools can amplify both harm and healing, and what it means to approach youth mental health through interdisciplinary, compassionate, and equity-centered lenses in a rapidly evolving digital world. ​ Dr. Michael Rich is a pediatrician and child health researcher at Boston Children’s Hospital and a professor at Harvard Medical School. He is the founder and director of the Digital Wellness Lab and the Clinic for Interactive Media and Internet Disorders. Widely recognized for bridging medicine, psychology, and media studies, Dr. Rich is a leading voice on understanding and improving how children and adolescents engage with digital media. Check out Dr. Rich's work: The Mediatrician's Guide : The Digital Wellness Lab: digitalwellnesslab.org/ Stay updated with DWL: The Inspired Internet Pledge: inspiredinternet.org/

You can listen to Rethinking Youth Mental Health Online with Dr. Michael Rich online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Rethinking Youth Mental Health Online with Dr. Michael Rich is an episode from LearnOn Podcast: The Science Show By Kids, For Kids! by Jaansi Patel.

This episode is 00:35:48 long.

This episode was published on Jan 19, 2026.

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