Addressing the Adolescent Mental Health Crisis through Connection, Community, Meaning, and Purpose

Michael Strong, The Socratic Experience

Thanks largely to the efforts of Jean Twenge and Jonathan Haidt, we have finally reached the point at which the public is aware of the adolescent mental health crisis taking shape.(1) Their approach has been to highlight the role of social media as a causal factor in the epidemic of depression among adolescent girls

Their proposed policy response is to regulate social media so that teens cannot access it so easily. Utah has responded promptly, passing legislation requiring minors to obtain consent from their parents to access social media and forcing social media companies to obtain age verification from all Utah users.(2) The big question remains: Can it be enforced effectively?

While parents, governments, corporations, and the broader public engage in what is likely to be a long cat and mouse game regarding access to social media, I want to call attention to a fundamentally different strategy for addressing the adolescent mental health crisis: Learning environments rich in connection, community, meaning, and purpose.

CDC reported in April 2022, based on a survey of 7,705 adolescents:

“Compared with those who did not feel close to persons…