(LifeSiteNews) — Dr. Mark Bauerlein joined Jonathon van Maren on the latest episode of The Van Maren Show to discuss his book “The Dumbest Generation Grows Up: From Stupefied Youth to Dangerous Adults.”
His new book is a follow-up to “The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future (Or, Don’t Trust Anyone Under 30).”
“What we are seeing now when we look at 30-year-olds in America today is really the fruits of that lack of a good, solid intellectual formation,” Bauerlein said. “They’re not that happy. The rates of depression and anxiety [and] narcissism are up. Suicide is up. They’re not getting married and having kids, which is a sign of pessimism about the future.”
Millennials, the English professor continued, also exhibit high rates of vindictiveness and distrust of others — quite at odds with their designation as “the most tolerant generation.” Bauerlein said many of them just “don’t have the tools” to handle the struggles and setbacks of the real world.
The biggest culprit is modern technology: iPhones, iPads, and so on. It’s telling, Bauerlein noted, that program and device designers in Silicon Valley don’t let their young children use this technology. He said they even send their children to low-tech, screen-free schools like the Waldorf School in Los Altos, California.
Bauerlein said the “signs of deterioration” are so strong they can no longer be swept aside. To close out the episode, he gave practical advice to parents looking to reduce the harmful effects of too much screen time on their children.
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