Taken by Social Media: Honoring London Gadd, forever 12
· 42 min
Episode Taken by Social Media: Honoring London Gadd, forever 12
This episode discusses youth suicide and social media harm; listener discretion is advised.
London was bright, goofy, empathetic, brilliant. She played soccer year-round, read nonstop, danced through the kitchen, and filled her Michigan home with laughter. But during the pandemic, when she was just eight, a smartphone and social media entered her life. What followed was a years-long battle with algorithmic addiction that Charay—like millions of parents—never saw coming.
In this raw and devastating interview, London’s mom Charay Gadd shares the truth no parent should ever have to live through: TikTok pushing self-harm and suicide content when London searched for harmless topics… Snapchat teaching her to hide messages… multiple secret accounts… emotional manipulation from streaks and scores… and a child who didn’t understand the permanence of death because of what she saw online.
Charay takes us through London’s hospitalizations, the cries for help, and the night everything changed. Her message is one every parent must hear: This wasn’t London. This was addiction. This was social media.
Today, Charay fights for justice—alongside more than 1,000 families in the national lawsuit against Big Tech—and honors London’s life through a scholarship that empowers teens to make a difference in the world.
This episode is not entertainment. It’s a warning. And it will save lives.
You can donate to a scholarship program in London's name, here.
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