Study finds regular social media use linked to more dangerous choices

A new study published in The BMJ (British Medical Journal) has revealed a link between youths who use social media frequently and risky decision-making (“Kids Who Use Social Media More Prone to Making Dangerous Decisions,” StudyFinds, Nov. 29, 2023).

While it can be useful for staying connected and informed, researchers from the University of Glasgow found strong correlation between regular social media use and significantly increased risky behaviors among young children and teens. “These include increased underage drinking, drug use, and smoking, as well as antisocial behavior, such as unsafe sexual activity and gambling” (ibid).

The study points to several reasons for this: peer pressure amplified; screen time replacing physical activity; online content like ads and user posts glamorizing unhealthy and unsafe practices like excessive drinking and poor diet; long-term impact of forming bad habits, leading eventually to issues like substance dependency, depression or chronic health problems.

Spending more than two hours on social media doubled the likelihood of alcohol consumption compared to those spending less than two. Even more moderate regular use was associated with major increases in dangerous behavior—such as around a 75 percent increase in risky sexual behaviors and antisocial activities like bullying, aggression and delinquency.

This is quite concerning, as a recent Gallup poll shows that “just over half of U.S. teenagers (51%) report spending at least four hours per day using a variety of social media apps such as YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and X (formerly Twitter),” the average being 4.8 hours, with girls averaging an hour more than boys (“Teens Spend Average of 4.8 Hours on Social Media Per Day,” Gallup, Oct. 13, 2023).

While acknowledging it has some upside, Cornell law professor Bill Jacobson warns: “Social media is destroying us, particularly the youth. There are multiple lawsuits against social media big tech companies for designing manipulative platforms that are deceptively addictive . . . TikTok seems like the crack cocaine of the internet” (“Social Media Is 'One of the Worst Things That Ever Happened to Our Society,'" Legal Insurrection, Aug. 30, 2023).

We must all be personally on guard against inundation from societal influences and protect our children.

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Marijuana leading to psychosis and other health problems

The Wall Street Journal reports: “Thousands of teenagers and young adults . . . have developed delusions and paranoia after using cannabis. Legalization [leading to] . . . more frequent use of marijuana that is many times as potent as strains common three decades ago is leading to more psychotic episodes, according to doctors and recent research” (“More Teens Who Use Marijuana Are Suffering From Psychosis,” Jan. 10, 2024).

Continuing: “‘This isn’t the cannabis of 20, 30 years ago,’ said Dr. Deepali Gershan, an addiction psychiatrist at Compass Health Center in Northbrook, Ill. Up to 20% of her caseload is patients for whom she suspects cannabis use triggered a psychotic episode. Rates of diagnoses for cannabis-induced disorders were more than 50% higher at the end of November than in 2019 . . .

“Large studies show a clear link between frequent and more potent cannabis use and higher rates of psychosis, particularly in young users, said Dr. Deepak D’Souza, professor of psychiatry at Yale University School of Medicine . . . At Boston Children’s Hospital, doctors are treating more children developing psychotic disorders from cannabis use. Nearly a third of adolescents they see for checkups say they are using cannabis. About a third of children using cannabis report experiencing hallucinations or paranoia . . .

“‘This is attacking young brains,’ said Dr. Roneet Lev, an emergency room physician at Scripps Mercy Hospital in San Diego . . . Dr. Karen Randall [in Pueblo, Colo. said] . . . ‘We’re just making this huge population of people who we can no longer fix.’ She is considering quitting medicine.” 

This is a terribly serious problem. And it comes on the heels a headline from last year stating, “Cannabis users are up to a third more likely to develop heart disease, major study warns” (Daily Mail, Feb. 24, 2023).

Avoid this problem with everything you’ve got. And if you’ve already fallen into it, do everything you can to quit, praying to God for deliverance and looking to others for help. You can search for other articles on marijuana and addiction at our website.

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The anti-natalist movement pushing declining birthrates

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un recently called on his country’s women to have more children (Dec. 3, 2023). China is likewise trying to reverse its declining birthrate, which its longstanding one-child policy contributed to. Much of the Western world is seeing a declining birthrate, but some want to drive the population far lower.

Psychology Today recently reported: “Some people, who call themselves ‘anti-natalists,’ hold the view that life is neither a gift nor a miracle, but instead a bad idea because of its inevitable suffering. Some climate activists are sympathetic to this perspective because of potential climate catastrophes” (“Why Some Women Don’t Want Children,” June 19, 2023).

Not too long ago, NBC News posted a “thought experiment” titled “Science proves kids are bad for Earth. Morality suggests we stop having them” (Nov. 17, 2017). The author, bioethics professor Travis Rieder, continued: “Having many children is wrong, or at least morally suspect, for standard environmental reasons . . . Several years ago, scientists showed that having a child, especially for the world’s wealthy, is one of the worst things you can do for the environment.”

Population Matters declares at its web site: “Our population has become so large that the Earth cannot cope.” Stop Having Kids proclaims, “We Can Choose to End the Cycle of Needless Suffering + Help Those Who Already Exist.” It justifies its anti-natalist position by arguing, “We know there’s no deprivation, harm, or unfairness in never existing. If any of us were never born we wouldn’t even know the difference.” Of course, few of them would choose to not exist.

Econofact says that America’s declining birthrate is a mystery: “The U.S. birth rate has fallen by 20% since 2007. This decline cannot be explained by demographic, economic, or policy changes” (“The Mystery of the Declining Birthrate, Feb. 15, 2022). Nearly a third of young women recently surveyed reported that they did not want to have children. Why? Most stated reasons of inconvenience or career. How could we have come to this level of self-absorption?

The cause of low birthrates is more likely the result of the breakdown of the family, acceptance of immorality and perversion in society in general, and the abortion industry. We see the same in other countries. The Bible in its listings of blessings for obeying God and curses for disobedience presents children and increased population as a blessing and decreased birthrate and population as a curse (see Leviticus 26; Deuteronomy 28). Yet such a curse may be self-inflicted. In any case, the anti-natalist movement is growing.

The fact is, the belief that human life is an accident and a bad idea comes from Satan the devil. Jesus called him “a murderer from the beginning” (John 8:44). As “the ruler of this world” (John 12:31), he uses people to do his dirty work—including destroying people who exist and impeding the existence of more, as he hates their potential of living forever in God’s family.

Thankfully, not everyone is caught up in the anti-baby hype. In 2022, tech entrepreneur Elon Musk said in an interview: “Most people in the world are operating under the false impression that we’ve got too many people. This is not true. Earth could maintain a population many times the current level. The birth rate has been dropping like crazy.” He also blamed the United Nations’ “ridiculous” birthrate population estimates for providing a false narrative that the earth is overpopulated (“Elon Musk Reckons Earth Can Sustain a Population Far Higher Than the Current 8 Billion,” LAD Bible, April 22, 2022).

Psalm 127:3 says, “Children are a blessing and a gift from the Lord” (Contemporary English Version). Let’s treasure this wonderful, priceless joy from God.

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1 in 5 young Americans thinks Holocaust a myth, has a positive view of Bin Laden

The minds of young people in Western nations are being severely corrupted. According to a recent poll from The Economist and YouGov, one-fifth (20 percent) of U.S. citizens between ages 18 and 29 believe the Holocaust is a myth, while an additional 30 percent said they did not agree or disagree with this (“One in Five Young Americans Believes the Holocaust Is a Myth, Poll Finds,” The Times of Israel, Dec. 11, 2023).

This came in the wake of a shocking level of support for Hamas following its Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

Moreover, the poll was followed by another disturbing poll by the Daily Mail: “One in Five Young Americans Has a Positive View of Osama Bin Laden: Disturbing Daily Mail Poll Results Also Reveal Three in 10 Gen-Zers Think the Views of the 9/11 Mastermind Were a ‘Force for Good’” (Daily Mail, Dec. 27, 2023). Again, utterly shocking. “Family members of 9/11 victims said the findings are ‘horrifying’ and proof of a startling trend suggesting some in the younger generation are growing sympathetic to terrorists” (ibid).

Favorable assessment of Bin Laden’s manifesto was also recently spread around on TikTok, garnering huge numbers of views.

The figures here are utterly disturbing. The miseducation of young people, really leftist indoctrination, is at unprecedented levels.

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First human implant of Neuralink brain chip and singularity predictions

Earlier this year it was reported that “the first human patient has received an implant from brain-chip startup Neuralink . . . the company’s billionaire founder Elon Musk said” (“Elon Musk’s Neuralink Implants Brain Chip in First Human,” Reuters, Jan. 29, 2024). Musk stated that the first Neuralink product is called Telepathy and explained its intention: “‘Enables control of your phone or computer, and through them almost any device, just by thinking,’ he wrote. ‘Initial users will be those who have lost the use of their limbs. Imagine if Stephen Hawking could communicate faster than a speed typist or auctioneer. That is the goal”—along with “a vision to ‘unlock human potential’ in the future,” which some see as hopeful while others view as foreboding (“Mind and Machine: First human has received Elon Musk’s Neuralink brain chip implant with ‘terrified’ fans warning ‘first cyborg is born,’” The U.S. Sun, Jan. 29).

Musk had earlier explained that this could be a way to save people’s minds and avoid extinction: “‘You could probably save state in the brain. So if you were to die your state could be returned in the form of another human body or a robot body,’ he said . . . [and] compared this saving process to backing up a video game . . . It’s also hoped the Neuralink brain chip will be able to help humans compete with artificial intelligence” (“Brain Games: ‘Save your brain like a game’ says Elon Musk as Neuralink plan promises to prevent ‘AI extinction’ wiping out humanity,” The U.S. Sun, Jan. 30).

Last year, famed futurist Ray Kurzweil, who has made many accurate technological predictions, generated a lot of excitement in predicting that people would achieve immortality with the help of age-reversing nanotechnology around 2030 and would completely merge with machines in what’s called the singularity around 2045 (“Humans Will Achieve Immortality in Eight Years, says former Google engineer who has predicted the future with 86% accuracy,” Daily Mail, March 28, 2023; “Futurist Predicts Humans Will Be Immortal, Identical to AI by 2045,” The Jerusalem Post, March 30, 2023).

Yet technology has its limits. The dream of uploading human consciousness into electronic brains of android bodies will not happen, as it leaves out the non-physical component of the human mind—the human spirit—and ignores God’s ultimate plan for man’s future.