Jonathan Haidt, the man behind this article and most of this discussion, cofounded LetGrow.org [0] with the explicit intention of helping to free kids from the control that their helicopter parents increasingly smother them with. That organization is behind several laws in various states intended to protect parents who give their kids more freedom. He very much sees social media and helicopter parenting as two sides of the same coin, two tightly related forces that conspire to ruin childhood and thereby ruin children's mental health.

I wouldn't be surprised if there is a trend among parents to latch on to Haidt's anti-social-media advocacy while ignoring his recommendations for what we fill the time with instead (hint: free roaming independence!), but it's not because he hasn't been vocal about both aspects.

[0] https://letgrow.org/about-us/