While at a break point, a daily look at an ever-changing culture through the lens of

unchanging truth for the Colson Center on John Stone Street.

San Augustan famously observed that the human heart is restless until its rest is found

in God that applies not only to individuals, but to cultures, even entire generations.

Practically speaking, this restlessness can take many forms, including an unprecedented

mental health crisis.

The recent and much talked about report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

describes precisely this.

As a CDC spokeswoman bluntly stated, quote, young people, especially young women, are

in crisis.

An article in The New York Times summarized, quote, nearly three and five teenage girls

felt persistent sadness in 2021.

One in three girls seriously considered attempting suicide.

Jonathan Hate, author of the book The Coddling of the American Mine, painted an even

starker picture, quote, we're now 11 years into the largest epidemic of adolescent mental

illness ever recorded.

And the timing of this unprecedented outbreak of anxiety, depression, and other mental

health problems, as Hate points out, corresponds suspiciously to the rise of smartphones and

social media apps.

This technology led to a culture-wide exchange of what he calls a play-based childhood for

what he calls a screen-based childhood.

That exchange likely helped create a generation with fragile psyches, unable to deal with

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