The hottest new cultural trend today, believe it or not, is stability.
In our time, several phenomena have occurred that cluster into one overarching trend I call the Stability Revolution. In sum, the Stability Revolution is a rejection of constant chaos and a return to tradition and normalcy. Who is joining this movement, you ask? Primarily, it is young people.
According to The New York Times and other outlets, young men have now become more religious than young women.1 This remarkable trend has arrived alongside the traditional-wife (or “trad-wife”) phenomenon. Casting off the secularist vision of womanhood, many young women are now pursuing a lifestyle of traditional marriage, homemaking, and child-rearing.
Young people are also rejecting digital hyper-connectivity. At the University of Austin, for example, students put their devices away for much of the week, focusing instead on learning, conversation, and campus life.
The point of these observations is that today’s younger generation is trending in a surprising direction—away from the chaos and toward the calm. Our children have grown up in a world of instability and constant confusion. They have been bullied on social media, enduring savage mockery for being ugly or gross or weak. They are being told that boys can become girls and should be allowed to play girls’ sports. And during the Covid pandemic, millions of young men and women missed in-person learning for extended periods when the world voluntarily locked down.
Most poignantly, many young people have suffered the ravages of broken homes through marital turmoil and divorce. Many have also grown up with little connection to a church. As a result, they have had precious little moral formation and have been told to find their authentic selves without biblical direction.
Recently, I thought of these sad trends while watching a video about the baptism of Lola Sheen, daughter of actors Charlie Sheen and Denise Richards. This young woman said she was “lost and hopeless” despite being from a rich and famous family. But then she found Christ, and everything changed.
I suspect that Lola’s story is just one of a rising tide of such testimonies that illustrate this generation’s response to the fearsome chaos, instability, and confusion. They have struggled; they have suffered. They have not found happiness in their devices, schools, or homes. Yet, in the midst of this wreckage, God is working. There is a surge in our time toward stability, hope, and family.
The Stability Revolution is underway.
1. Jill Filipovic, “Gen Z Men Are Going Back to Church. Why?” Slate, October 11, 2024, https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2024/10/men-women-politics-gen-z-trump-harris-church-christianity-religion-gender-divide.html