I know I’m getting old and all that, and I’m aware this means that I’ll be tempted to look unfavorably at people who are younger than myself. I know I’ll be tempted to consider what people were like when I was young and to stand in judgment of what people are like today. Yet even with all that in mind, it’s undeniable that the younger generation today is different from the generations that came before it. That difference is expressed in many different ways, though perhaps the ones we notice most are the levels of anxiety experienced by young people along with their relationship to social media.

The Anxious Generation

This has long been a subject of disquieted fascination to Jonathan Haidt, who many know as one of the co-authors of The Coddling of the American Mind. In his new book The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness, he links the two factors (technology and anxiety) and says “the members of Gen Z are the test subjects for a radical new way of growing up.” This radical new way of growing up is what he refers to as the Great Rewiring of Childhood. Essentially, beginning in the late 90s, children began to be raised in a world that was radically different from the world as it had been before. It was a world in which young people grew into adulthood being constantly formed by new devices and apps. And in Haidt’s telling, these devices and apps did far more harm than good.
He says there are four technology-based trends that together generated the Great Rewiring: the spread of high-speed internet in the early 2000s; the arrival of the iPhone (followed by its many imitators) in 2007; the introduction of social media and the later creation of the “like” and “retweet” capabilities in 2009; and the combination of the front-facing camera with Instagram in 2010-2012. 
With these pieces in place, “Gen Z became the first generation in history to go through puberty with a portal in their pockets that called them away from the people nearby and into an alternative universe that was exciting, addictive, unstable, and … unsuitable for children and adolescents.” Here’s why: “Succeeding socially in that universe required them to devote a large part of their consciousness—perpetually—to managing what became their online brand.” Hence, “they spent far less time playing with, talking to, touching, or even making eye contact with their friends and families, thereby reducing their participation in embodied social behaviors that are essential for successful human development.” In other words, the commitment to technology interrupted their social and emotional development and maturation. 
There’s a second plotline in the Great Rewiring and it is the way parents, beginning in the 80s and 90s, began to overprotect their children. Where children develop best when they are given a measure of freedom and allowed to face risk and make decisions, parents began to overprotect their children, denying them developmental opportunities that had been available to previous generations. Unable to roam and play freely, children instead gravitated to computer-based and then phone-based forms of play. Haidt’s central claim “is that these two trends—overprotection in the real world and underprotection in the virtual world—are the major reasons why children born after 1995 became the anxious generation.”
That is his claim, but can he prove it? In my assessment, he does. Haidt is a non-Christian social psychologist, so relies on an evolutionary understanding of humanity to explain, for example, why children need free play to develop and why men are particularly drawn to pornography. And though I disagree with much of his methodology, I agree with many of his conclusions—conclusions that are often far easier to reach through a biblical framework than a secular one. (Which is to say, I don’t think evolution is necessary or even helpful when considering why men are drawn to porn; the Bible has a better and more compelling answer.)
Haidt begins by setting the context in a chapter he ominously titles “A Surge of Suffering.” He shows how teens are becoming increasingly miserable and suffering increased rates of depression and mental illness. From here he moves to the backstory and, in three chapters, tells how childhood was transformed by fears of safety and a gravitation toward solo, indoor play. In four chapters he describes the Great Rewiring, pausing to show how boys and girls have both suffered, though in different ways—girls especially through the rise of Instagram and chasing impossible standards of beauty and boys through the ubiquity and captivating power of pornography. Both became anxious and, in many ways, ill-equipped to thrive in adulthood.
With the descriptive part of the book behind him, he advances to prescribing ways that we should respond. He suggests four reforms that parents and other adult authorities would do well to consider: Children should not be given smartphones before high school; children should not be given access to social media before the age of 16; schools should be phone-free; and children should be given far more unsupervised play and childhood independence. Of course, many of these reforms must be determined on a community (or even national) basis more than an individual one, so he offers some potential ways to advance communally.
The Anxious Generation is a sobering and challenging book that advances many of the concerns raised in previous bestsellers like The Coddling of the American Mind, iGen, and The Shallows. It aptly shows how technology and overprotection have combined to both shape and harm an entire generation. Encouragingly, it also provides clear and well-informed instructions for parents and other adults that can help today’s young people escape the system and live healthier lives. I recommend the book and its instructions to anyone, but especially to parents. 

Good morning. Grace and peace to you today.

Logos users will want to check out this long list of deals for today.
(Yesterday on the blog: The Sad, Sad Story You Need To Tell God)
Giving Thanks for Prosperity and Adversity
“There’s been a lot of suffering and fear in the world the past two years, but it hasn’t shaken the faith of most Christians in the United States.” Or so a new study finds.
Take This First Simple Step before You Respond
This is a good reminder about profitable discussions. “If someone said to me, ‘Evolution is a well-proven fact,’ I wouldn’t necessarily disagree. Their statement could be true. It could also be false. Why? Because I don’t yet know what they mean by ‘evolution.’”
Tear your hearts
Susan Lafferty: “Judgment approaches. The Day of the Lord is coming. And God extends the invitation to return to Him. Even now. In this season. Advent. As we wait and watch. Anticipating the coming of the Savior.”
Why We Desperately Need the Message of Revelation
Tom Schreiner has just written an excellent introduction to the book of Revelation titled The Joy of Hearing. In this article he explains why the message of Revelation is so very important.
Your Soul Needs Food Even When It Doesn’t Want It
This is a reminder that we need to be wary of those times when our appetite has waned (whether that’s a physical or spiritual appetite).
The Not-So-Insignificant Danger of Ingratitude
John Beeson: “There is a deadly gas that contaminates the air we breathe. The toxic gas appears unthreatening because everyone appears to breathe it in and breathe it out as harmlessly as oxygen.The poison is ingratitude. And it is everywhere.”
Flashback: The Nick Challies Memorial Scholarship
In the aftermath of my son Nick’s sudden death, a number of friends asked if there was a way they could honor his memory with a gift. That led to the founding of the Nick Challies Memorial Scholarship.

Modern pop music is not composed for us. The latest TV lineup is not scripted for us. We’re not your average teenagers anymore. What are we? We are free. Following Jesus means we don’t have to live the way our culture tells us to. —Jaquelle Crowe

This week I spoke at my first conference since COVID … and came away with a pretty good case of COVID (of the “bad cold” variety). So I’m moving a bit slow and catching up on a bit of TV, but hoping to be back on my feet by Monday.

There are a few Kindle deals to take a look at.
(Yesterday on the blog: On What Basis Could The Rings of Power Completely Fail?)
“Elizabeth the Faithful”—a Small Reflection on our Queen
I really enjoyed Michael Haykin’s tribute to Queen Elizabeth II. “Having been born in the mid-1950s, Elizabeth II (1926–2022) is the only monarch I have ever had. And so, it is very strange to hear the time-hallowed refrain, ‘The Queen is dead. Long live the King!’”
God save the Queen
This is also a lovely tribute. “The rain is falling outside the window, the sound of students from the Westminster school drifts over and blends with the sound of sirens. And there flies the flag on top of Parliament, still not yet at half mast. Soon it may be lowered, tethered, like a million waiting souls, to the frail, fluttering life of an old lady surrounded by doctors and family in Balmoral. That slight, whisper-light weight will drag behind it a freight of emotion and uncertainty that will bury the country for days and weeks to come.”
How Manti Te’o’s Fake Girlfriend Helps Explain Transgenderism
Brett McCracken: “More than its insights about sports stardom, media hype, or the perils of online dating, Untold: The Girlfriend Who Didn’t Exist, reinforced for me a theory I’ve had about contemporary culture: transgenderism and social media are inextricably linked, and the plausibility of trans identities is a unique byproduct of the digital age.”
Did Jesus take on our sin nature? (Video)
Michael Reeves does a great job answering the question.
What is the House Church?
This article offers a helpful explanation of the Chinese house church.
Then Comes the Breaking
“Something within me broke. Tears began to flow down my face as he came and sat down beside me. He shared that he had some idea of the unspeakable pain I was experiencing because he and his wife had miscarried many years ago. He asked how I was doing, and I jokingly said, ‘I was doing fine until you stopped by.’”
Flashback: The Glory of Children Is Their Fathers
While our ultimate desire is to hear God say, “Well done, good and faithful servant,” we all also want to hear our children say, “Well done, good and faithful dad” or “Well done, good and faithful mom.”

Love is not only doing others no harm; it is doing them all the good that it is in our power to do. —J.R. Miller