What if social media isn’t hurting kids?

<figure> <img alt="Child using social media on a cell phone on a graphic green background." data-caption="" data-portal-copyright="Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images" data-has-syndication-rights="1" src="https://platform.theverge.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/STKS526_SOCIAL_MEDIA_TRIAL_CVIRGINIA_C.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all&#038;crop=0,0,100,100" /> <figcaption> </figcaption> </figure> <p class="wp-block-paragraph">Two years ago, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt released his <em>New York Times</em> bestseller <em>The Anxious Generation.</em> The book posits that the rise of social media and smartphone use is largely to blame for the prominent decline in teen mental health since 2010. It quickly became a central rallying cry of the social media backlash. Haidt has been <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/10/australia/australia-social-media-anxiety-intl-hnk">credited with helping inspire</a> Australia's nationwide teen social media ban. He has joined forces with <a href="https://www.theverge.com/policy/893930/social-media-addiction-trial-los-angeles-zuckerberg-instagram-youtube">bereaved parents who are fighting tech companies in court</a>. His name comes up unprompted in conversations with people in power who say his book opened their eyes to an online crisis. </p> <p class="wp-block-paragraph">Haidt's theory has …</p> <p><a href="https://www.theverge.com/policy/995704/peter-gray-restoring-childhood-jonathan-haidt">Read the full story at The Verge.</a></p>