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Social Media: A Problem of Screens and Content

Social Media: A Problem of Screens and Content

Sep 22, 2022

In the Claremont Institute’s journal American Mind, English teacher and author Auguste Meyrat concludes that the future looks bleak for today’s children and teens who are inundated with technology. He has witnessed firsthand the detrimental effects of screen exposure in the classroom, and found administrative and parental will to reign in screen time severely lacking. While computers and smartphones are not all bad – for they have vastly improved our efficiency and connected the world in new ways – we cannot ignore that this has come at the expense of social cohesion and our health, both mental and physical, especially for our kids. Those who are currently parents or plan to someday become parents should consider reducing or eliminating screen time usage, though at present it may seem downright impossible.

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A Balanced Approach to Dating and Marriage

A Balanced Approach to Dating and Marriage

Sep 15, 2022

A recent article in the Daily Princetonian highlights two divergent worldviews in its latest “Ask the Sexpert” column. In response to a new student asking how to approach relationships during their first year of college, the Sexpert predictably echoes platitudes about college as a time for experimentation and closes with an invitation to check out the university’s “Safer Sexpo.” What hardly qualifies as direction for someone with the idealistic, yet understandable, desire to find their life’s partner on campus, demonstrates just how polarized views about marriage have become.

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Positive Connections Give Us Purpose

Positive Connections Give Us Purpose

Jul 14, 2022

It is not good for us to be alone, a small study in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry found among a group of 100 older adults. Measuring how one’s social life influences one’s sense of purpose in life, the researchers asked participants to rate their social interactions three times per day. At the end of each day, they were to evaluate how these interactions contributed to a sense of purpose. Expectedly, the experience of more positive interactions during the day made participants feel a greater sense of purpose by nightfall. The leader of the study, Gabrielle Pfund, noted that while most sense-of-purpose research focuses on a person’s overall orientation toward purpose or non-purpose, her team found that “everyone [experienced] fluctuations relative to their own averages.” Based on previous research, the study team believes that daily positive social interactions enhancing one’s “sense of purpose” provide cognitive and physical health benefits for older adults.

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Insecure Attachment in Post-Roe World

Insecure Attachment in Post-Roe World

Jul 7, 2022

Many are expressing their fear and anger following the decision to reverse Roe v. Wade. University students have been particularly vocal about their distrust of the Supreme Court, their anger at institutions for upholding “patriarchy,” and their worries about the fate of same-sex marriage and contraception. The reactions shared through op-eds and open letters point to a very valid fear on the part of young people that the reversal of Roe v. Wade will not just spell the end of a right to abortion, but also stifle women’s engagement in public life. Some reactions, however, have taken a performative turn – red capes and white bonnets in the style of the dystopian novel The Handmaid’s Tale, red paint splashed across women’s lower halves to represent their allegiance to abortion, verbal violence as well as physical hurled at anyone supportive of the decision. Though we’ve seen tactics like these employed by “woke” factions before, the extremity of these reactions warrant a closer look. 

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Sex Is a Funny Word

Sex Is a Funny Word

Jun 30, 2022

The New York Times’ Elaine Blair recently lauded a children’s sex education trilogy written by Cory Silverberg, a sex educator and the owner of a “sex-positive sex shop” in Toronto, Canada. Silverberg, the son of a sex therapist who self-identifies as a “queer person” and uses “they” pronouns, claims he is “skeptical” of sex positivity. “For some people sex is great, for some people it’s terrible, for some people it means nothing…I want to phrase things in a way that leaves all those possibilities open.” Though Silverberg professes that he does not want to contribute to any “normative pressures” surrounding sex, it’s hard to imagine that he could do so even if he tried. But if the new normative pressure is precisely to lack of behavioral norms for the sake of inclusion, this spells disaster for children, who need clear and simple boundaries to thrive. At stake is not only the health of their future selves, friendships, and courtships, but the lives of future generations adrift in moral confusion. 

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The Boy Crisis

The Boy Crisis

Jun 23, 2022

As it happens each year, this Father’s Day occasioned appreciation for fathers, as well as laments of fatherlessness. Various outlets reiterated the benefits of father involvement for boys, citing well-known research that boys with fathers enjoy more positive outcomes on nearly every measure than do their fatherless peers. This Father’s Day also took on another meaning as two boys suffering father absence committed atrocious acts of violence in Buffalo, NY and Uvalde, TX. Jordan Peterson, the Canadian clinical psychologist whose video lectures catapulted him into the mainstream, recently tackled this tricky subject in an interview with American political scientist Warren Farrell, whose book The Boy Crisis attempts to understand the loss of purpose and lower levels of achievement experienced by modern American boys.

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Latest Posts

Know Who You’re Dating

Know Who You’re Dating

Aug 12, 2021 |

In a recent Atlantic article, a woman who met and moved in with a man during COVID lockdowns in Spain emerged from quarantine only to discover she barely recognized the person with whom she had lived and shared daily intimacy. This is just one example of many COVID couples who experienced “all seclusion, no inclusion” throughout their brief relationships and are only now discovering hidden aspects of their partners through other social interactions.

Grandparents and Intergenerational Influence

Grandparents and Intergenerational Influence

Aug 5, 2021 |

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, a third of parents with children under age five entrusted grandparents with childcare responsibilities. Significant expense of daycare programs aside, it seems that parents would rather their children spend more time in the presence of extended family members than be watched by unrelated others. The increase in grandparent childcare suggests that the pandemic trend toward intergenerational living may be grounded in something more enduring besides mere economic considerations.

An Interview with Onalee McGraw

An Interview with Onalee McGraw

Jul 29, 2021 |

We hope you tuned in to EWTN recently for a chance to hear Onalee McGraw, founder of the Educational Guidance Institute (EGI), speak about natural law and the impact of the Production Code on classic film. If you did not, and you’re wondering what “natural law” and “Production Code” mean, take a look at our extended interview with Onalee. Here she talks EGI’s founding, natural law, the Golden Age of Hollywood, censorship, and more.

Onalee Spotlight

Onalee Spotlight

Jul 22, 2021 | ,

Recently, we spoke in-depth with Onalee McGraw, founder of the Educational Guidance Institute, about her work on classic film and education in virtue. As a former researcher on education at the Heritage Foundation and guest on the Phil Donahue Show and Turner Classic Movies, Onalee has seen how classic films from the Golden Age of Hollywood can transform the minds and hearts of high school and college students by helping them contemplate the “large existential questions of life” – relationships, community, civic participation, and more. When we asked her why movies like It’s A Wonderful Life and The Shop Around the Corner are vital for us to see as 21st-century advocates of family, marriage, and sexual integrity, she offered the following response…

Family Estrangement

Family Estrangement

Jul 15, 2021 |

Since the 1960’s, an increasing number of mothers and fathers have favored “time-intensive, child-centered” parenting approaches. Intensive parenting is a favored approach for parents who want to be involved with their children’s lives by guiding them, spending time with them, and preparing them for adulthood, with the understanding that these are also lifelong relationships. Though this hands-on vision of parenting has at times strengthened family unity, the stakes have been so raised much for family relationships to succeed at a time when there is a rapidly-expanding generational gap in values, politics, and expectations.

Tech and Sexualized Images

Tech and Sexualized Images

Jul 8, 2021 | ,

Have you ever scrolled through your recommended videos on YouTube and been alarmed at some of the content you found? If so, you’re not alone. A recent article in the Wall Street Journal detailed the results of a new study by Mozilla, in which participants flagged more than 70% of the videos recommended by YouTube for objectionable content, including misinformation and sexualization. Though YouTube’s algorithm has undergone repeated revisions in the past few years, their efforts appear to be floundering as users are faced with potentially misleading or harmful content. In 2020, YouTube came under fire simultaneously for too much and too little, with some complaining about speech censorship and others criticizing the spread of fake news. Throughout its brief history, YouTube has been criticized for leaving children vulnerable to inappropriate or predatory content. YouTube has a problem with sexual content, but is it because the algorithm works well, or doesn’t work well enough? In a world that often defends the production, sale, and distribution of pornographic content, on what grounds can YouTube ultimately stand strong in defending its viewers from unwanted sexual content?

Choosing Motherhood

Choosing Motherhood

Jul 1, 2021 |

America’s declining birthrate has become the hot topic of late as President Biden, senators, and policymakers put forward their plans to alleviate the economic burdens on American families. While economics are an important driver of the decline, their role is only partial as the cultural tide has increasingly turned away from marriage and family. Among young women in their twenties, the New York Times notes an enormous decrease in childbearing from 2007 to 2019, suggesting that many women are having children later in life, and even then are less likely to be having them at all. This should come as no surprise, since more women are pursuing education, travel, and careers than ever before. But women are not impervious to the tug-of-war between fertility and personal enrichment, since they alone are biologically able to bear a child. Instead of focusing exclusively on policy questions, we should attend to the reasons why women delay childbirth regardless of desire.

Men, Women, and Honoring the Difference

Men, Women, and Honoring the Difference

Jun 24, 2021 |

Recently, two transgender athletes qualified to participate in women’s divisions at the Tokyo Olympics this summer. Though their formal approval by the International Olympic Committee would seem to indicate universal acceptance, athletes and onlookers alike have criticized the decision for what it is: giving unfair advantage to biological males and dissuading women from participating in sports. In one tragic instance, this has spelled early retirement for New Zealand weightlifter Tracey Lambrechs, who previously held significant records in her weight class until they were crushed over a single weekend by Laurel Hubbard, a biological male. This and other examples of female displacement in sports by transgender competitors reflect a distressing trend against women’s equal participation, since some activities require separation on the basis of sex in order to maintain an even playing field. How did we get to a place where some view sex as interchangeable, despite these obvious infringements of women’s privacy and equality?

Returning to Campus

Returning to Campus

Jun 10, 2021 |

Looking ahead to this upcoming fall semester, the Editorial Board of the Harvard Crimson has published an article calling on students to help build a “new normal” once they return to campus. Students, parents, and teachers know better than anyone else the toll that pandemic lockdowns have taken on young people’s academic and social lives. Understanding that returning to campus life will occasion a “hard reset,” the Editorial Board suggests taking the the opportunity to build a better campus culture. They offer two suggestions: turning “transactional relationships” into “genuine relationships” and “canceling cutthroat culture.”

The Co-Parent Trap

The Co-Parent Trap

Jun 3, 2021 |

We’re so grateful for our students who keep us abreast of on- and off-campus issues regarding relationships. One of our student leaders recently pointed us to an article in the Wall Street Journal on the rise of “co-parenting” subscription sites PollenTree and Modamily, which promise to match “would-be parents who want to share custody of a child without any romantic expectations.” According to the author, “it’s a lot like divorce, without the wedding or the arguments.” Jim Daly from Focus on the Family is cited as saying it is “an affront to marriage,” while practitioners like Jenica Andersen, then 38 and pregnant with her second child, admit that while co-parenting is controversial, the alternative “idealized version of a man and woman falling in love is shortsighted.” Or is it?

Romney Family Plan

Romney Family Plan

May 27, 2021 |

Happy Thursday! Last week, Princeton Pro-Life and our Princeton Anscombe Society chapter hosted their annual Reunions event for pro-life, pro-family students and alumni. Professor Robert P. George, a stalwart defender of pro-life, pro-family activities on Princeton’s campus, spoke with Patrick T. Brown, a Princeton alumni and policy fellow at the Institute for Family Studies, on crafting a conservative family policy as debates regarding paid leave, universal child care, and child tax credits gain prominence in DC.

Lessons from Sexual Communal Strength

Lessons from Sexual Communal Strength

May 20, 2021 | ,

Reading Abigail Shrier’s recent New York Times piece, “To Be Young and Pessimistic in America,” is a stark reminder that each generation must face new kinds of adversity. Today’s youngest generation, Gen Z, is simultaneously contending with the contemporary technological landscape and its impact on our society while helping to shape the future in how they choose to integrate the two. And they should be good at this – after all, Gen Z is the first generation to grow up fully immersed in the online environment, and arguably best equipped to navigate its ever-evolving landscapes.

There Is So Much More to Intimacy

There Is So Much More to Intimacy

May 13, 2021 | ,

On May 3, The Daily Princetonian published a visual essay called “What I wish we were taught about sex and intimacy,” where a student described a freshman year experience with sex and intimacy. Entering Princeton with an ex-boyfriend behind her, she remembers calling a high school friend attending another school. Though the author had initially been swept up by a variety of exciting campus activities, she felt “pretty miserable and lonely.” Her experiences seemed to pale in comparison with those of her friend, who met “all these new people” and had a new hookup every weekend.

The Myth of the Platonic Marriage

The Myth of the Platonic Marriage

May 6, 2021 | ,

A New York Times story recently highlighted a “platonic marriage” between Jay Guercio and Krystle Purificato in East Islip, NY, which Guercio described as “stable, long-lasting,” and having “no conditions.” They are among a number of couples – friends – who desire the legal and social recognition that a certificate of marriage confers. We know that marriage, properly understood, is the comprehensive union of a man and a woman for life for the purpose of raising children and that friendship in marriage is undoubtedly crucial to its success. So why can’t spouses be just friends?

Committed Relationships in the Age of Third Wave Polyamory

Committed Relationships in the Age of Third Wave Polyamory

Apr 29, 2021 | ,

Last week, the New York Times published a story in its Modern Love column about polyamory, where a young woman named Silva Kuusniemi asks, My Boyfriend Has Two Partners. Should I Be His Third? In recalling her experience dating Juhana, a man with one live-in partner and another non-live-in partner, she reflects on the reasons why this doomed relationship reveals her own desire to be loved exclusively and concludes that some people like Juhana are simply polyamorous by nature. Some people, however, are wired to become disciples of “monoamorous, monotheistic” faith in a single lover.

Jon Birger to Women: Make Your Move

Jon Birger to Women: Make Your Move

Apr 22, 2021 | ,

In 2015, Jon Birger captured the attention of newspapers, women’s magazines, and college publications with his book Date-onomics: How Dating Became a Lopsided Numbers Game. Using economics, statistics, and psychology, Birger shows how a skewed sex ratio in American society has put college-educated women at a disadvantage as they look for a long-term partner. “There have been multiple studies showing that college-educated Americans are increasingly unlikely to marry someone lacking a college degree,” Birger noted in an interview with Glamour Magazine. Moreover, the influence of hookup culture over people’s long-term preferences spells frustration for those actively seeking serious partners and a loss of time for those who don’t realize they desire a deeper commitment.

Couples and Groups

Couples and Groups

Apr 15, 2021 | ,

The beginning of a new relationship indicates a couple’s desire to enter into an exclusive bond with one another apart from the group. Among the questions of how to integrate individuals’ lives and interests with each other comes the question of how to integrate the couple with the community. How this is accomplished has varied according to time, place, and custom.

Take Stock of Your Friendships

Take Stock of Your Friendships

Apr 8, 2021 | ,

Friendship, and our need for it, is as ancient as humanity itself. The ancient Mesopotamian Epic of Gilgamesh, written sometime between 2100 and 1200 BC, poignantly illustrates how love in friendship even transcends death. Though the gods condemn Enkidu to death in retaliation for killing the Bull of Heaven, his loss spurs Gilgamesh on the perilous journey to discovering eternal life. The poem illustrates the power of friendship to transform one’s very person, and set one on the road to a life previously unimaginable. In his classic work The Four Loves, C.S. Lewis describes true friendship as “unnecessary, like philosophy, like art, like the universe itself.”

Aaron Renn to Men: Date Local

Aaron Renn to Men: Date Local

Apr 1, 2021 | ,

Aaron Renn is an urban analyst who has written for a number of publications, including the Manhattan Institute’s City Journal. But he is also passionate about helping men become their best at time when the world is “ambivalent, at best” about masculinity. As a Christian, he is concerned to find that churches in America rarely if ever offer meaningful advice and formation to men on how to be men. To meet this need, he runs a blog called The Masculinist, along with a podcast where he discusses masculinity, culture, politics, and Christianity.

Struggles of the Single Life

Struggles of the Single Life

Mar 25, 2021 | ,

This past weekend, Melanie Notkin of the New York Post chronicled the dating “hellscape” that New York City has become since the start of the pandemic last year. Masks, social distancing, curfews, and other restrictions have made it nearly impossible to meet new people, let alone meet friends and acquaintances in person. While many singles have turned to online dating, others worry that they have lost “a full year of finding love and marriage,” as one 30-year-old Brooklyn woman lamented. In a city where about 56% of its residents are singles, it is frustrating to think that a large portion are struggling to find people to date. However devastating the pandemic has been, it is not the only reason dating in 2020 was so challenging.