Psychologist Peter Gray has published *Restoring Childhood*, a direct challenge to Jonathan Haidt's bestselling *The Anxious Generation*, which blames the decline in teen mental health since 2010 largely on smartphones and social media. Gray, a former collaborator of Haidt's, argues instead that the causes lie in decades of reduced childhood autonomy and, more recently, rigid schooling driven by the Common Core curriculum, and that Haidt's theory ignores contrary research. The dispute matters because Haidt's work has shaped policy, including Australia's teen social media ban, and influenced legal action against tech firms, so a credible rebuttal could affect future regulation.

Gray contends that home internet access in the 1990s and 2000s actually improved teen wellbeing by restoring freedom and social connection, and warns that social media bans could cause fresh harm rather than fix the problem. He cites meta-analyses finding no meaningful correlation between social media or smartphone use and mental health, plus a Florida study showing smartphone-owning 11- to 13-year-olds spent more time with friends in person. He also notes that surveys consistently identify school pressure, not social media, as teenagers' top reported source of stress. Despite their disagreement over the internet's effects, Gray and Haidt jointly co-founded Let Grow in 2017, a group promoting children's independence and unsupervised play.