In early February, Canadian researchers reported that rates of severe mental illness among young people have risen alongside increased access to high-potency cannabis (Callaghan, et al., 2022). Around the same time, a new book, A Killing in Cannabis (Kohn, 2024), revisited a 2019 California murder and highlighted how violence tied to the marijuana trade has persisted even after legalization. On February 9, 2024, an opinion piece from the New York Times editorial board
Haidt's arguments and approach have been challenged by critics, many of whom point out that causation is not correlation, that his work ignores the many other potential factors at play affecting mental health. Yet, The Anxious Generation has undeniably had a significant impact. Haidt is leading, in his own terms, a "movement," which we have already seen translate into legislation in many states around the U.S. limiting the use of phones in schools.
As parents, we did everything we could to teach our kids how to use social media responsibly and monitor their usage, but it still wasn't enough. Our sons, Carson and David, suffered from relentless cyberbullying that resulted in them taking their own lives. As we navigated our own grief and struggled to understand the pain that overwhelmed our sons, we met each other - and even more "survivor parents" who have experienced similar loss.
Following Setzer's death, for instance, his mother discovered that his last conversation had been with an AI chatbot styled after "Game of Thrones" character Daenerys Targaryen and had revolved around suicide. In his last messages to the bot, the Character.AI persona generated text asking Setzer to "please come home to me as soon as possible." "What if I told you I could come home right now?" Sewell replied. "...please do, my sweet king," the AI responded. Soon after, Setzer took his own life with his father's gun.
