Jon Allen

The Christian music artist Josiah Queen recently recorded a song entitled “Dusty Bibles.” The premise of the song can be summed up in the opening line from the song which says, “We got dust on our Bibles, brand new iPhones, no wonder why we feel this way.” Queen is referring to the rise in loneliness, anxiety, depression, and a lostness that cellphones and particularly social media have brought into our world. And it is truly an epidemic among all generations, but especially our youth.

I believe we all remember the reaction in 2020 to a pandemic that had worldwide impacts. What I wonder is if we can take this epidemic that statistically started well before Covid-19 and react to it with as much veracity as we did that pandemic. It is a serious matter that is impacting the next generation as significantly, I believe, as the pandemic did just six years ago.

In his book “Anxious Generation,” Jonathan Haidt gives us a vivid picture of the impact that cellphones and social media have had on Gen Z and later Millenials. One of the most blatant statistics he quotes in his book is the rise of major depression among teens and young adults since 2010. He quotes a study from U.S. National Survey on Drug Use and Health that shows that there has been an increase in major depression of 145% for girls and 161% for boys ages 18-25. And the biggest increase from 2012 until now. Coincidentally, 2012 is when cellphones introduced forward facing cameras allowing for selfies and an increased social media pressure among young people.

There are many more alarming statistics that Haidt points to in reference to what he calls the new technology based childhood. Haidt quotes four ways to repair the damage already done. 

No smartphones before high school.

No social media before age 16

Phone-free schools, from bell to bell

More independence, free play and responsibility in the real world

And one I’ll add because Haidt’s book is not faith based is the void left by the lack of time spent on devices be replaced with time spent in relationship to God and the people he created without screens.

These are important steps and there is so much I can’t cover in this short article but you can get more information by reading this book as well as accessing the website that accompanies it.

I would also recommend the books “Screens and Teens” by Kathy Koch and “The Tech-Wise Family” by Andy Crouch both of which give a  broader solution to this ever-growing, ever-impactful epidemic we find ourselves in. These also give a faith based solution to this epidemic.

You see, the answers to the epidemic at hand will always be a relationship with Jesus and seeking him daily. We read in Philippians 4:6-7, “Don’t worry (be anxious) about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.”

The answer to this growing epidemic is a growing relationship with the one who created us. The point of Josiah Queen’s song is just that. That emptiness we sense will never be satisfied with technology but with a deep and abiding relationship with God. So, let’s help the next generations break the bonds of this epidemic and learn to know the peace that comes only from God.

(Jon Allen is the associate pastor of Grace Point in Powell.)