 It started in the summer of 2022 when social psychologist Jonathan Haidt at New York University, who's the father of two adolescents, was writing a book about what he called the pervasive negative effects of the Internet and social media on our culture and relationships. Haidt planned to open the book with a chapter on kids, who he called the canary in the coal mine. When he dug into the research, he found a dramatic uptick in anxiety and depression among children around the year 2012.