This is demonstrably false.
There is no correlation at all between these data points.
But there absolutely is between social media use and mental health. Regardless of religiosity.
There is a mammoth correlation and we were warned of it in the 1800's
We can offer warning after warning about what we will do to each other, but better still we can also offer the promise that out of all this, we will change for the better.
Here is but an example.
It is not only in the
Súriy-i-Mulúk has Bahá'u'lláh warned mankind of the consequences of rejecting His call, but also in numerous Tablets revealed later, He has clearly foreshadowed the torment and trials which would afflict an unbelieving humanity which turned away from its God and rejected His supreme Manifestation. Thus is but one passages gleaned from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, that portray the spectacle awaiting a world steeped in perversity and heedlessness:
"The time for the destruction of the world and its people hath arrived.' 'The hour is approaching when the most great convulsion will have appeared.' 'The promised day is come, the day when tormenting trials will have surged above your heads, and beneath your feet, saying:
"Taste ye what your hands have wrought!"' 'Soon shall the blasts of His chastisement beat upon you, and the dust of hell enshroud you.' 'And when the appointed hour is come, there shall suddenly appear that which shall cause the limbs of mankind to quake.' 'The day is approaching when its [civilization's] flame will devour the cities, when the Tongue of Grandeur will proclaim: "The Kingdom is God's, the Almighty, the All-Praised!"
The youth if today have not been given the hope of what personal morality, trustworthiness and Truthfulness can impart on humanity as a whole. Amongst all these trials there is hope, there is purpose. That hope and purpose cannot be found in material possessions and security of wealth. It cannot be found in any worldly pursuit, unless that pursuit has purpose to serve the human race.
So, although the present day and the immediate future, as foretold by Bahá'u'lláh, are calamitous and very dark, we are indeed reassured by His promise that the distant future is so glorious that no man can as yet visualize it. He states:
"After a time, all the governments on earth will change. Oppression will envelop the world. And following a universal convulsion, the sun of justice will rise from the horizon of the unseen realm."
It could be the current civil conflicts and wars are the start where the convulsions either coincide with the most great convulsion.
This is also offered, an Interesting thought from what is found in the Baha'i Writings
".....The burning of cities; the contamination of the atmosphere of the earth - these stand out as the signs and portents that must either herald or accompany the retributive calamity...."
So that offere that "...signs and portents that must either herald or accompany the retributive calamity...."
So Shoghi Effendi is saying about what Baha'u'llah offered, that even if we face a potential nuclear war, which would cause both "the burning of cities and the contamination of the atmosphere of the earth" is not, alone, what the "retributive calamity" is. Rather, the "retributive calamity" either will accompany or come after this "burning of cities [and] contamination of the atmosphere of the earth."
All this will bring about a Lesser Peace, many will survive to build that lesser peace, many will not.
An interesting aspect of the Lesser Peace is that as it is being built, ther move to do away with religion will gain momentum.
As our collective mental health will all suffer through all these processes, one can buck that trend and live in Love, hope and peace throughout it all. If only all our children could see and live that hope!
Regards Tony
