Grove City College Associate Professor of Social Work Dr. Jennifer C. Hollenberger’s essay on Gen Z anxiety was Christian Scholar’s Review’s top blog post of 2024.
"The Anxious Generation: A Christian Educator’s Reflection" was published on the CSR website in October.
In it, Hollenberger reviews social psychologist Jonathan Haidt’s book “The Anxious Generation,” which seeks to identify and explore the unique factors impacting the mental health of young people who were born between 1997 and 2012. Haidt lays much of the blame on smart phones and the “advent of what he calls ‘phone-based’ living, which resulted in the loss of a ‘play-based’ childhood,” Hollenberger writes, noting the author also touches on how academic pressures and overprotective parenting have influenced adolescent mental health.
In her essay, Hollenberger drills down on Haidt’s contention that “phone-based life is pulling humanity downward, and the cost has been a spiritual harm.”
“I couldn’t help but think about how I might apply a Christian perspective to his theories in my classroom,” she writes. “I immediately recognized this idea to mirror the consequences of the fall … Just as sin separated humanity from God and one another, Haidt argues that technology now exacerbates this disconnection.”
“In recognizing this disconnection, we are reminded of the hope found in Christ’s redemptive work. In Haidt’s book, he believes and advocates that things can improve—that society can reverse the damage done by smartphones,” Hollenberger writes. “As a Christian, I can view this optimism as part of a larger plan of God’s redemptive work.”
Hollenberger said she wrote the essay to communicate that Christians can engage with secular work in meaningful ways.
“There is a common phrase in Christian higher education: ‘All truth is God’s truth.’ I believe Haidt’s work is evidence of this. As a Christian social worker and social scientist, I can take Haidt's findings and research data points and frame them within the larger Christian story. Haidt’s research provides a compelling framework for exploring the challenges of Gen Z, but when we contextualize his findings within the Christian narrative, we uncover deeper truths about the human condition and God’s ongoing redemptive work in the world,” she said.
“This process is at the heart of what we are trying to accomplish here at Grove City College, especially in the Social Work program – to equip students to engage critically with secular ideas, not by rejecting them but by filtering them through a Christian worldview. In doing so, we empower students to cultivate both intellectual rigor and spiritual depth,” Hollenberger said.
Her post garnered more than 3,500 views on Christian Scholar’s Review’s website, according to editor Perry Glanzer.
“Few journal articles reach that large of an audience, and even our book reviews rarely hit those numbers. This short 1,500-word blog post helps other Christian scholars see an exemplary example of how to analyze an important recent book through a Christian lens,” Glanzer said.
Christian Scholar’s Review publishes peer-reviewed scholarship and research across disciplines that advances the integration of faith and learning. It also provides a forum for discussion of pedagogical and theoretical issues related to Christian higher education.