ICYMI

Kamala Harris chose Minnesota Governor Tim Walz to be her Vice Presidential Nominee. Here are some takes on her decision.

A Recommendation

• The (second) best newsletter we read is Jon Tyson’s Primal Path. His target audience is men and fathers, but his content is gold for everybody. Subscribe here.

Articles

• Chris Watkin from the Keller Center on the Christian roots of “speaking truth to power.”

• Tim Keller and Neo-Calvinism

• Adam Grant on the ideal place to relax

• A provocative essay on therapy culture’s excesses and society’s increasing selfishness.

• Why the worldwide fertility crisis is not just political, but personal.

• 10 lessons that Leadership guru Jim Collins learned from Peter Drucker

• 11 simple ways to improve your memory.

Paywalled

• Arthur Brooks lays out Dostoyevsky’s 5 principles for a meaningful life. (The Atlantic)

• 28 Christian Athletes to cheer on at the Olympics, and the top Christian highlights so far at this year’s games. (Christianity Today)

• The data behind gender polarization in American politics. (WSJ)

• Christine Emba believes Americans aren’t having kids anymore because there is a crisis of meaning. (The Atlantic)

• Ross Douthat explores whether the Cultural Left can be happy without God or history. (NYT)

Data

• College Students & Free Speech

  • Sixty-three percent of college students believe professors should be required to make statements in support of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion as a condition of employment. (source)

  • Forty-six percent agree that opinions they find offensive from fellow students should be reported to administrators. (source)

  • For the first time in US history, people have decided that they want less education—because costs of learning now outweigh perceived benefits.

• Phones

  • The average person spends 4 hours and 37 minutes on their phone every day. That's the equivalent of over 1 day per week or 6 days per month. Across a year, that's approximately 70 days spent looking at a phone. (source)

  • 4 out of 10 Americans, and the majority of those under 30 say they are on their phone “almost constantly.” (source)

  • In a recent survey, 47% of parents said their teenager is addicted to their phone. (source)

• Kids

  • In Madrid, there are more cats and dogs than children under 10.

  • In 2023, the total fertility rate (the average number of children a woman expects to have in her lifetime) was 1.62, the lowest on record and well below the replacement rate of 2.1.

  • A 2010 study showed that American adoptive parents were 30 percent more likely to prefer girls than boys and were willing to pay $16,000 more in finalization costs to ensure a daughter

  • It is estimated that 70% of wealthy families will lose their wealth by the second generation and 90% will lose it by the third. (source)