What’s happening to Gen Z? Since 2010, this generation has seen a 150% increase in depression. One in four teen girls reports experiencing a major depressive disorder in the last year. 37% of college students report feeling anxious “all the time.” New research shows that social media is no longer just a correlation to this problem, but the root cause. Drawing data from Jonathan Haidt’s latest book, “The Anxious Generation,” Keith and Patrick team up on the pod to examine Gen Z’s current mental health crisis. Hear how smartphones and social media *literally* rewire a child’s developing brain and how this leads to negative outcomes such as less sleep, higher rates of major depressive disorders, loneliness, suicidal tendencies, poor education, eating disorders, and more. Plus, when is the worst time to give a boy and a girl a smartphone, and how does gender play a distinct role? Are we all, adults included, addicted to our phones? And what about parental pushbacks to withholding smartphones from children? Shouldn’t kids have a phone in case of an emergency? Listen now and learn some practical next steps you can take to protect your children from these devices that are destroying their mental health.
Note: This episode is from our previous podcast, Truth Over Tribe. We’ve kept a few of these conversations on our feed because they're worth revisiting, but the tone and focus have shifted from what we’re doing now on Not Just Sunday. For new episodes focused on how Christians can live out a full-time faith, check out Not Just Sunday, right here on the same feed.
