Welcome to Breakpoint, a daily look and an ever-changing culture through the lens of

unchanging truth.

For the Colson Center, I'm John Stone Street.

Recently, social psychologist Jonathan Hyte launched the sub-stat newsletter called After

Babble to explore the cultural effects of social media, which he says reminds him of the

biblical account of the Tower of Babble.

According to Genesis, the project seemed like a good idea at first, but in the end, as

he put it, quote, everything you built together has crumbled, and you can't even talk together

or work together to restore it.

While Hyte's convinced that also describes social media, and that social media has fueled

the exploding mental health crisis among teenagers, especially adolescent girls.

However, if social media is to be consumed, it must first be created.

In a recent essay at the Cultural Magazine, Eon, grapples with how the creation of social

media is affecting children on the other side of the iPhone.

The article, entitled Honey and I Sold the Kids, asked a reasonable question.

We have a loss to protect children from factory work.

Why aren't they protected from parents who monetize their lives online?

The author is a British journalist named Clarissa Cibag Montiforri, explores the phenomenon

of so-called mom-fluencers, or moms, and even sometimes dads who become social media

stars by broadcasting photos, videos, and essays about their personal family lives to ballooning

public audiences.

Having intimate YouTube videos and Instagram to millions of followers, showing kids playing,

...