In an era marked by declining church attendance and rising secularism, we might expect interest in the Bible to wane. Yet, according to Circana BookScan, Bible sales surged by 22 percent in 2024. This surge, intriguingly, coincides with increasing chatter about the Bible on TikTok. Why is Scripture capturing the attention of a generation often labeled as the least religious?
One potential explanation lies in the collective anxiety permeating today’s society. From economic instability and political polarization to concerns about war and climate change, many young people feel a sense of unease. Research from the American Bible Society (ABS) reveals that Gen Z—those aged 18 to 27—reports the highest levels of stress and the lowest levels of hope among all generational cohorts. Yet the ABS also points out that Gen Zer’s who engage with the Bible consistently report higher levels of emotional well-being and human flourishing than their peers.
Social media platforms like TikTok have played a pivotal role in amplifying interest in the Bible. On an app known for dance challenges and viral memes, the hashtag #Bible has garnered millions of views. The accessibility of short-form, engaging content allows users to encounter Scripture in a way that feels relevant and personal.
Cultural shifts also contribute to this renewed interest. The pandemic forced many to confront existential questions, leading some to explore faith for the first time. Also, growing disillusionment with materialism and hyper-individualism has prompted a search for deeper meaning and connection.
Gen Z may be discovering the hope offered in the Bible amid the discouraging circumstances of the end times. “A Digital Revival: The Bible’s Unexpected Boom Among Gen Z,” Prophecy News Watch, Dec. 12, 2024.
In the fall of 2024, eighth-grade students at a school in England took part in an experiment to measure the impact of smartphones and social media on their behavior. They underwent a series of tests monitoring their behavioral changes as they gave up their phones for 21 days.
One of the students said he had used his phone for at least nine hours a day before the experiment, “looking at YouTube, gaming, and texting.”
He described initially giving up his phone as “dreadful—like a part of me was missing.”
But by the end of the 21-day experiment he said he was “more interactive” and realized, “I’ve got to be careful what I’m looking at [online].”
Another student said she found life without a smartphone “really good,” and she now turns it off at 21:00 to give herself wind-down time before bed.
She said that throughout the experiment she did not experience panic attacks or anxiety as before.
“When I had no phone, I was completely fine—I concentrated in class, I understood, I was more sociable, I was kind to people, I came downstairs and helped my family.”
The principal said teachers noticed a considerable difference in the students, confirming what the monitoring team from York University was finding:
“There was a 17 percent drop in anxiety symptoms among the students. They slept on average an extra hour a day, which is going to have a huge impact on mental health. There was an 18 percent reduction in symptoms relating to depression and a 3 percent improvement in working memory in just 21 days.”
“What shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the end of the world?” Matthew 24:3
In the Bible, Jesus warns of distractions that prevent people from being prepared for His second coming. Luke 21:34. Could overuse of smartphones fall into that category? “We feel we’ve lost our kids to smartphones,” British Broadcasting Corporation, Dec. 11, 2024.
It’s clear by now that SARS-CoV-2 can affect organs throughout the body—including the brain. Researchers hypothesize that SARS-CoV-2 may cause persistent inflammation in the brain, damage to blood vessels in the brain, or immune dysfunction so extreme it affects the brain.
COVID-19 has been linked to serious cognitive problems, including dementia and suicidal thinking. And brain fog, a common symptom of Long COVID, can be so profound that people are unable to live the lives and work the jobs they once did. But COVID-19 may also affect the brain in subtler ways.
In the US alone, about a million working-age adults reported having serious difficulty remembering, concentrating, or making decisions in 2023 compared to before the pandemic, according to a New York Times analysis of Census Bureau data.
A 2024 study compared the cognitive performance of people who had fully recovered from COVID-19 with that of a similar group of people who’d never had the virus. The COVID-19 group did worse, equivalent to a deficit of about three IQ points.
It’s hard to say whether brain changes from SARS-CoV-2 infections are reversible, but there are some positive signs. A study of people with Long COVID symptoms found they were, on average, about six IQ points beneath people who’d never had COVID-19. But those whose Long COVID symptoms resolved over time also saw their cognitive scores improve.
We should remember, however, that any vaccine that prompts the body to produce spike proteins would have the same effects as having COVID itself. Having repeated vaccines could prolong negative effects in the brain. Learning how to stay healthy by boosting our immunity naturally is a good strategy in these times of new diseases. “Did the Pandemic Break Our Brains?” Time, Sept. 16, 2024.
Over the past 10 years, rates of colorectal cancer among 25-to-49-year-olds have increased in 24 different countries, including the US, UK, France, Australia, Canada, Norway, and Argentina. Similar trends are found with pancreatic cancer, breast cancer, and others.
These concerning findings were presented by an international team at the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) congress in Geneva in September 2024. But similar reports are coming in from many quarters.
One study found that the global incidence of early-onset cancer had increased by 79 percent between 1990 and 2019, with the number of cancer-related deaths in younger people rising by 29 percent. Another report in The Lancet Public Health described how cancer incidence rates in the US have steadily risen between the generations across 17 different cancers, particularly among Generation Xers and Millennials.
As well as recognizing the trend, cancer specialists are feeling an increasing sense of urgency to understand the factors driving it. There seem to be many.
A recent study found that accumulating excess body weight between the ages of 18 and 40 is associated with a greater risk of up to 18 different cancers. Other risk factors identified in studies include lower sleep duration and quality, prolonged exposure to artificial light at night, inadequate movement and exercise, micro and nano plastic accumulation, damage to gut bacteria (especially through overexposure to antibiotics), and high stress levels.
In short, our 21st-century Western lifestyle increasingly favors early-onset cancer. It will also reduce our resistance to the pandemics of the last days. Luke 21:11. We can do a lot individually to combat this by making personal lifestyle changes with God’s help.
“‘These are people in the prime of life’: The worrying puzzle behind the rise in early-onset cancer,” British Broadcasting Corporation, Oct. 4, 2024.
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