The Isolation Generation

“Please, sir, may I have some different?” It’s not “more” the average young guy wants today, it’s different.

Psychologist Philip Zimbardo describes drug addiction as “wanting more,” but guys today have what he calls arousal addiction, always “wanting something different.” This never-ending stream of stimulation is behind the growing failure of males to connect with women socially or to succeed academically. They’re dropping out of life.

Zimbardo cites excessive internet use, video gaming, and online porn as causes of this new addiction. By age 21, boys spend 10,000 hours gaming, two-thirds of that time in isolation. The average young man watches 50 porn clips per week.

“Boys’ brains are being digitally rewired in a totally new way, for change, novelty, excitement, and constant arous-al,” Zimbardo says. “They’re totally out of sync in traditional classes, which are analog, static, and interactively pas-sive. And they’re totally out of sync in relationships, which build gradually and subtly.” This is creating a generation of young men who do not connect well in traditional teaching situations and who lack social skills especially with women.

—Zimbardo video is at TED.com (Aug 2011)

Survey Says: Education Makes Us More Religious?

Each additional year of education increases the likelihood of …

attending religious services: 15%
reading the Bible at least occasionally: 9%
switching to mainline Protestant denomination—ECUS, Lutheran, PCUSA or UMC: 13%.

—University of Nebraska-Lincoln sociologist Philip Schwadel, using data from the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago (CNN, 8/11/11)

Lesser Educated Leading Church Exodus

Monthly attendance among white adults 25-44 declines over 30-year period.

Least educated (did not graduate high school): 1970s ……. 38% 2000s ……. 23%
Moderately educated (high school graduate): 1970s ……. 50% 2000s ……. 37%
Educated (college graduate): 1970s ……. 51% 2000s ……. 46%

—from a report by American Sociological Association, using data from the General Social Survey and the National Survey of Family Growth. (USA Today, Aug 2011)