Issue 25 - The Danger of Modernity
One thing I noticed near the tail-end of 2023 and into 2024 is that a discussion started bubbling up about the fact that the world is facing a fertility crisis - that is, people are not having enough babies to replace their own generation, which causes population to shrink. While many developing countries still have birth rates above the replacement level, they are all on extreme downward trends, and a University of Washington study anticipates by the end of this century nearly every country on earth will be below replacement.
While there are many reasons blamed for this phenomenon, I think it’s interesting that, in the US at least, we simply don’t value children (or the marriages that produce them) in a meaningful way. In terms of what parents want for their children, they place a much higher premium on financial independence, enjoyable jobs, and college degrees, than marriage or children. Fewer than 1 in 4 parents say they view marriage or children as “very or extremely” important for their children, and just over half place any importance on them at all. This despite those same parents overwhelmingly indicating that being a parent is “rewarding” and “enjoyable” at least most of the time, if not all the time.
I first became aware of the issue in this essay, which I hesitate to share because it contains a lot of crude language and I don’t endorse everything it says. However, it was one of the most thought-provoking things I read in 2023 and I’ve come back to it several times, because the author, “Bennett”, points to the fertility crisis as reflecting deeper problems with our current society.
Bennett’s thesis can be laid out as follows:
Modern life is full of hyper-stimuli (that is, stimuli that exceed what is natural), which hijack our natural reward systems, getting us stuck in meaningless simulations of real life.
The extent of this influence can be quantified by the cratering rates of fertility around the world, even in developing countries, as modernity takes hold.
There is no way to isolate your children enough to avoid exposure to these forces - you have to instill in them values strong enough to overcome them.
In a prior issue I laid out my concerns that persecution of Christians could come to the United States, and how this motivates me to prioritize God in my life and the lives of my kids with an urgency that may not have gripped me if I was living this stage of my life 30 or 40 years ago. Bennett’s essay reminds me that arguably the biggest threat to our faith and the faith of our children is not persecution from an antagonistic culture, but distraction, convenience, and overstimulation, in some cases from things that are clearly wicked (like pornography) and in some cases from things that aren’t (like social media or sports fandom). And Bennett is right that we can’t escape these forces: these things are part of the cultural air we breathe, and they are unlikely to go away in our lifetimes or that of our kids. In fact, they are likely to accelerate as technology continues to advance.
Bennett goes a step further to note that any culture that is able to overcome the influence of modernity will dominate the world in a century because as childlessness spreads, nobody will be left to continue propagating our current culture. I’ve recently seen this point made in more mainstream venues, arguing that modernity’s sterilizing impact may destroy modernity itself, leaving in its wake only those cultures that rejected it.
I want to be clear that I view a hypothetical scenario where Christianity takes over the world because non-Christians stop having children is a horrifying tragedy: what I am not promoting is that we turn inward and disciple our kids extra hard at the expense of our broader society, or try to withdraw them from society altogether. As Bennett noted, it’s not really feasible to isolate from modernity, and I’ll add that even if we could, complete abandonment of society would represent a failure to pursue the Great Commission.
I’m also not promoting the idea, popular in some Christian circles, that Christians should have lots of kids to advance this strategy. In fact, Bennett’s essay leads with the point that such a strategy is doomed to fail, noting how Ghengis Khan failed to have any lasting cultural impact despite having more kids than probably anyone in human history. Others, writing from an explicitly Christian perspective, have noted the same futility in this strategy.
So what (if anything) should we do in the face of modern hyperstimulation? My primary solutions are the same ones I laid out against the threat of persecution in Issue 18 - prayer, discipleship, and Christian community (which obviously are not my unique suggestion - these are always a Christian’s first lines of defense).
But I would add a few suggestions to this list.
First, within the umbrella of discipleship, I think we need to be very deliberate about painting for our children a vision of the life they are called to in Christ. In The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self, Christian professor and writer Carl Trueman traced the development of modern Western thought. The main thrust of the book is that in the last century, our conception of the self has shifted from one that depends on external factors (e.g., familial relationships, religion, place in society) to one that is based purely on self-fulfillment through self-expression. I think that this type of worldview is particularly susceptible to the excess of modernity. If the primary goal of life is to feel good, why not smoke weed and watch porn every waking hour (or spend every waking hour dedicated to a ‘fulfilling job’ instead of leaving margin to invest in family and community)? Now, some modern temptations can be combated directly, as people are beginning to figure out that many of the “freedoms” of the last century may be worse than what they free us from. But as Christian author Paul Tripp has noted, we can’t build fences high enough to keep our children in: we have to make what’s inside the fence so compelling that they don’t want to leave. Don’t just teach your children that pornography is sinful and harmful. Teach them the beauty of how marriage, sex, and the children that can result from this are all key parts of God’s plan and purpose for the world, preceding even the Fall. Teach them that the suffering of self-denial in a world awash in accessible carnal pleasure and distraction is but a “light and momentary affliction” when compared to a greater eternal reward. And model joy in marriage, parenthood, and sacrifice in your own life. Keeping our eyes firmly focused on our God-given missions in this life, and on the rewards awaiting us in the life to come, is one of the most powerful ways to overcome temptations to idolize some piece of modernity (even ones that aren’t inherently sinful).
Second, I think we need to take practical steps to steward our kids’ relationship to technology. NYU professor Jonathan Haidt has noted in several books how over the last 50 years we have become hyper-vigilant about protecting our children in the physical world while taking down all guardrails on digital life, failing to understand the dangers of unrestricted access to the internet. His most recent book, The Anxious Generation, describes the teen mental health wreckage left in the wake of the smartphone revolution coupled with the rise of social media. His suggestions to prevent smartphone usage until high school, and social media accounts until at least age 16, are practical steps to help our children develop healthy relationships with technology. And such steps can be taken in community, with movements like the Wait Until 8th pledge. Limiting screen time at all ages, even among teenagers with smartphones, helps to prevent the development of destructive habits.
In addition to opposing the development of bad habits, help your children develop good ones. Model for them morning Bible studies, time in prayer, and even time of quiet, unplugged reflection. Model for them joyful parenthood, friendship, service, accomplishment, and adventure in the physical world. The more we demonstrate the ability to resist the excess of modernity in our own lives, and the joy of doing so, the more we will be able to cultivate that ability in our children. This will in turn give them space for their faith to develop and flourish.