As Megan Garcia watched her teenage son’s mental health deteriorate, she knew he was spending too much time looking at screens — but she had no idea that he had built a warped sexual relationship with an AI chatbot.
Garcia was close to her 14-year-old son, Sewell, and felt comfortable having difficult conversations with him when his grades started to slip and his mental health began to decline. Desperate for a way to halt Sewell’s slide into depression, Garcia took his phone away and attempted to limit his screen time.
Shannon Osaka, The Washington Post
Madison Colombo, Fox News
Weekly roundup of research, commentary, and insights changing the national conversation on the family.
P.O. Box 1502 Charlottesville, VA 22902
© 2026 Institute for Family Studies
© 2026 Institute for Family Studies
Before you go, consider subscribing to our weekly emails so we can keep you updated with latest insights, articles, and reports.
Before you go, consider subscribing to IFS so we can keep you updated with news, articles, and reports.
We’ll keep you up to date with the latest from our research and articles.