Gray Says Schooling, Not Smartphones, Drove Teen Mental Health Decline

Psychology researcher Peter Gray's Restoring Childhood releases September 15, 2026. It argues teen mental health decline stems from decades of less independence for children and rigid, test-driven schooling tied to Common Core, the shared U.S. learning standards, rather than smartphones and social media. That directly counters Haidt's The Anxious Generation, which blames phones and social platforms for the post-2010 drop.