Jonathan Haidt says he knows what’s driving the teen mental-health crisis: addictive, distraction-laden, horror-filled apps like Instagram and TikTok. That’s the thesis of the New York University social psychologist’s book, The Anxious Generation, an instant sensation in parenting circles and a New York Times bestseller this spring.
Then a study appeared in a scientific journal. Chris Ferguson, a psychologist at Stetson University, in Florida, reported that he’d analyzed dozens of experiments and reached a conclusion that undermined Haidt, whom he named. “Reducing social-media time,” he announced on X, formerly Twitter, “has NO impact on mental health.”