# Information Overload Is Turning Our Kids Into Nihilists

**Creator:** Dad Saves America
**Platform:** youtube
**Duration:** 14m
**Source:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UZCQzI2Ibg

## Summary

The discussion centers around the rise of protest movements among educated youth, driven by a profound distrust in traditional institutions and a search for meaning in an age dominated by digital information. Martin Gurri, a former CIA media analyst, argues that this unrest reflects a larger societal shift rather than specific political failures, with young people seeking connection and purpose in a chaotic world.

- Millions of educated young people are protesting globally, driven by a sense of nihilism and disillusionment.
- The "fifth wave of information" has led to a collapse of trust in institutions, with public trust in government dropping from over 75% in the 1960s to below 25% today.
- Today's protests often involve mainstream, educated individuals rather than marginalized groups, indicating a unique demographic of discontent.
- Modern protest movements tend to be short-lived, sparked by outrage but lacking sustainable goals or visions for change.
- Young people are increasingly seeking meaning in politics, which is ill-equipped to provide it, contributing to feelings of anger and frustration.
- The decline in religious and community engagement leaves a void that many youth attempt to fill through political activism.
- Parents play a crucial role in guiding children towards constructive outlets for connection and meaning, emphasizing the importance of community involvement.
- Despite concerns about their digital lives, children are often more adept at navigating online spaces than parents realize, requiring open dialogue and guidance.

## Transcript

[[0:00]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UZCQzI2Ibg&t=0s)
(invigorating music) - Over the past decade,
across every continent, millions of the most educated,
affluent young people in all of human history
have taken to the streets, demanding that their
societies be dismantled in a revolution. - [Group] Whose streets? Our streets. Whose streets? Our streets. Take down Wall Street. Shut down Wall Street. - What's drawing a generation with more opportunity at
their fingertips than ever into movements like Antifa,
QAnon, Black Lives Matter, and The Proud Boys, united mainly by negativity
that verges on nihilism.

[[0:33]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UZCQzI2Ibg&t=33s)
Why is this happening to our kids? And what, if anything, can
we as parents do about it? - [YouTuber] I got a
black lives matter tattoo. - There's few people who
understand this phenomenon better than former CIA
media analyst, Martin Gurri. And as a Cuban immigrant
to America himself, he knows a thing or two
about populist revolutions. - I am Martin Gurri, at least I was the last time I looked I used to be an analyst
of global media for CIA.

[[0:59]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UZCQzI2Ibg&t=59s)
And I'm the author of a book called "The
Revolt of the Public." My thesis is a pretty simple one, it says that what you think
are the important players in politics and society today,
right, left, conservative, libertarian, whatever, are not. The fundamental conflict
of a moment in history is the conflict between a network public empowered by digital platforms, and the elites that are perched on the hierarchical
institutions we have inherited from the 20th century. - Martin's book is
incredibly dense and packed with case studies from around the world.

[[1:33]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UZCQzI2Ibg&t=93s)
At the heart of his analysis, is an insight that all
of us must confront. Much of this turmoil we're experiencing, the mistrust, the confusion, the chaos, it's not the result of
one political party, or leader, or election result. It's bigger than any one event or cause. In fact, it's the result
of the information tsunami that has hit humankind with
the advent of the internet. And it's just getting started. Martin calls this moment, the
fifth wave of information, and not since the printing press has a transformation this
disruptive taken place.

[[2:03]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UZCQzI2Ibg&t=123s)
And here's the thing, it's our kids who are the first generation to grow up in the eye of this storm, and its impact is leading millions of them to take to the streets. - Because the 99% is only
visible when we're in the street. - The reason I've done all
my writing and my research has been 'cause I am concerned
about liberal democracy, and the future of liberal democracy. Liberal democracy is one
of those institutions that has been bettered by
the tsunami of information.

[[2:29]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UZCQzI2Ibg&t=149s)
- If you wanna better understand
how the information tsunami is impacting our kids and our future, here's the top five things I learned from former CIA media
analyst, Martin Gurri. But first, if you like our
videos and wanna see more, please hit the like button
and subscribe to the channel, it really helps us out.
(jazz music) Now, let's dig. Number five, the emperor has no clothes. (Child laughs) - The emperor has no clothes on. (ominous music) - As Martin's subtitle suggests, the fifth wave has caused a total collapse of trust in everything.

[[3:01]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UZCQzI2Ibg&t=181s)
Every institution seems corrupt, but especially our
political and media elites. That's actually a really
big shift in our country compared to most of the 20th century. According to Pew research polls,
public trust in government in the 1950s and '60s was over 75%. Since 2007, that trust
is averaged below 25%. And that's despite the valiant
efforts of modern politicians to seem relatable on social media. - Hold on a sec, I'm gonna get me a beer. - [Martin Gurri] I elect
you my representative, look at you, you're just like me.

[[3:32]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UZCQzI2Ibg&t=212s)
Then you come to Washington, and suddenly start talking differently, and you dress differently, and it's like you become
a movie star or something, you become a celebrity. (cameras snap)
(crowd clamors) - According to Dr. Jean
Twenge, author of "iGen," the only institution our kids trust less than the government
is the media itself. And that's probably because
they see so much of it. Our parents generation
only had three channels, a few newspapers, and the nightly news. - Walter Cronkite has told us,
there are only three stories, he was voted the most
trusted man in America twice.

[[4:03]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UZCQzI2Ibg&t=243s)
And he would end every broadcast, and he would say, "That's the way it is." - And that's the way it is,
Friday, March 6th, 1981. - So there was tremendous
trust in the media. And of course, those of
us who had certain doubts, couldn't talk back. - Government and the media
haven't become less authentic or less trustworthy, they've always been
inauthentic, spin doctors. JFK lied about the Bay of Pigs, and the media covered for him. The New York Times carried
water for Joseph Stalin.

[[4:30]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UZCQzI2Ibg&t=270s)
What's changed today
is that the fifth wave has smashed the media monopoly. - Anybody who wants to
is now an author, right? (foreboding music)
Anybody who wants to now can send a message out into the ether. Anybody with any point of view, whatever, no matter how crazy, no
matter how dangerous, can just send things out. And the elites who used to be protected by the fact that they had this cozy top-down
informational structure, happened strip naked, and are in a state of
panic and cluelessness, trying to figure out
what to do about this.

[[4:59]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UZCQzI2Ibg&t=299s)
- With so much hitting our kids, it's no wonder many of them
are taking to the streets to protest everything they're seeing, but who exactly is protesting? Number four, protesters are
not who you think they are. Martin has studied dozens
of mass protest movements all around the world, in
the wake of the fifth wave On the surface, they have
very little in common. Israelis protesting high rent in Tel Aviv, Egyptians protesting military rule, Chileans taking to the
streets by the millions over a small increase in bus fairs.

[[5:28]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UZCQzI2Ibg&t=328s)
Some oppose immigration,
or climate change, or the 2020 US Presidential Election, or police brutality and racial injustice. But below the surface, what they have in common is surprising. - This is the opposite
of what you would expect. This is not marginalized groups, this is not ethnic minorities
or racial minorities, this is not the poor by any means. It tends to be the mainstream in America, that would be white, middle
class, hyper educated, this is probably the most
educated rebels ever.

[[5:55]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UZCQzI2Ibg&t=355s)
- President Trump, I'm in
the top 99th percentile of intelligent people on this planet... - This is what drew me to Martin's work in the first place as a dad. I want my son to go out into the world and be a positive contributor, I want him to change it for the better. And maybe there's times
when taking to the streets is the right thing to do,
but Martin's work suggests that a lot of these movements are less about real
progress for civil rights, and more about well educated young people coming together to vent, and find something,
anything transcendental.

[[6:22]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UZCQzI2Ibg&t=382s)
Which leads us to number three. (upbeat music)
Number three, modern protest movements don't last. Whatever happened to Occupy Wall Street? Did the yellow vests in France
get everything they wanted? Have you noticed that
we haven't heard much about Black Lives Matter lately? Today's protest movements
are usually triggered by a sensational event
that causes outrage. But it's hard to stay mad forever, so these movements
usually start with a bang and end with a whimper. Why is that?

[[6:46]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UZCQzI2Ibg&t=406s)
- The web is a geyser
of memes and slogans. So if you talk about, for example, Defund the Police, that's a slogan, you can't build a policy on three words. Andrew Cuomo, now disgraced
governor of New York, essentially encapsulated
the lack of content in Black Lives Matter. He appealed to the protesters who had just pretty much
devastated Midtown Manhattan, and he said the following. - You don't need to protest. You won. You won. What reform do you want?

[[7:18]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UZCQzI2Ibg&t=438s)
What do you want? - That the crowd says "get lost," okay. These are movements of negation, these are anger to the eighth degree, but if you accept them for what they say, it means that every institution of society has to so probably drastically altered in a way that is never specified. Public has a world in mind
that cannot possibly exist. They have a moment in which, in the the fever of the protest, they feel they're achieving
it within themselves.

[[7:45]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UZCQzI2Ibg&t=465s)
And if you listen to them, this is almost religious
ecstasy among the protesters. Now everybody's together, is a band of brothers
and sisters and such, the system that they oppose is everything that is not utopia. - I give you the Springfield Monorail. (Spectators gasp) - Here's the thing, anger and outrage burns hot and bright, but it fades out fast, kinda
like viral memes themselves. It's easy to burn things down, it takes much more time, and
an actual positive vision to build something new.

[[8:15]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UZCQzI2Ibg&t=495s)
That's a lesson that
everyone learns with time. And it's one of the reasons we try to tell the optimistic side of the
story here at Dad Saves America. The biggest truth our kids aren't hearing is that for all the elite corruption, they've been born into the
best time for humanity ever. (upbeat music)
That leaves it to us, as dads and parents, to tell them the truth. And the truth is, number two, you can't find meaning in politics.

[[8:38]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UZCQzI2Ibg&t=518s)
I'm an Italian American,
so I grew up Catholic, and somehow after 12
years of Catholic school, I stayed Catholic. Seriously though, while I'm not the best
practitioner of my faith, I've always found it to
be a source of solace, and yes, meaning, especially
in difficult times. There's piles of social science research that shows how human beings long to belong to something bigger than themselves. And for generations, it was
your religious community that provided that connection. Well, no longer.

[[9:03]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UZCQzI2Ibg&t=543s)
According to Gallup, only 47% of Americans attend
church, synagogue or mosque, which is down from 73% when pollsters first
asked the question in 1937 (sober music)
- What is important? And the sources that used
to provide the answer, historically, from the beginnings of time, religion, community, family, have been withdrawn
from these young people. But my guess is that they are putting the
burden of meaning in politics. They go to the streets, and initially, if you ever participate in a protest, there's a moment of euphoria, and a moment of we're transcending everything that our society
has clamped us down.

[[9:43]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UZCQzI2Ibg&t=583s)
- My community is other
anti-fascist people. These are the people who help me through some of my toughest struggles. And so, I am able to feel
like I have a family. - Our kids today are suffering from an epidemic of loneliness unlike any prior generation, and their relationship
to their digital life and their screens plays
a big part in that. According to the Survey
Center for American Life, over 55% of Gen Zers report feeling lonely one or more times a month, that compares to 37% for Gen Xers like me, and only 24% for baby boomers.

[[10:17]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UZCQzI2Ibg&t=617s)
Our kids are hungry for
connection, community and meaning, and they're trying to
find it wherever they can. When there's a void, people
try to fill it in other ways, like with drugs, or maybe worse, politics. - They're trying to wean
meaning out of politics, and of course, politics
was not erected for that. Politics is transactional. Everything breaks down. There is no meaning. And so, the anger and the
frustration only grows. I think a lot of the
anger can be explained by the attempt to get out of politics, something that politics
could never ever produce.

[[10:52]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UZCQzI2Ibg&t=652s)
- I'm not here to preach my faith or any particular religion
to you or your family, but one thing is abundantly clear, politics is about the
worst substitute religion humanity has ever come up with, whether it's nationalism,
socialism or environmentalism. And make no mistake, it's this religious itch
that our kids are scratching when they take to the
streets demanding revolution. So what, if anything, can we do about it? Well, if you're religious
here's the good news, researchers find that those big declines in faith practice I mentioned earlier don't happen for kids whose dads take them to church regularly.

[[11:25]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UZCQzI2Ibg&t=685s)
when it comes to faith
in church attendance, so goes' dad, so goes his kids. So your actions here
make a huge difference. And if you're not religious, your relationship with
your kids plays a huge role in keeping them on a
healthy, positive track to discover meaning for themselves. So make an effort to get
your kids off their screens and engage in their
community from an early age. - Are you in need of any
assistance today, sir?

[[11:47]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UZCQzI2Ibg&t=707s)
- No. - I could help you cross the street. - Let's help our kids tap into something bigger than themselves that's actually constructive, and leave those Christopher
Columbus statues alone. (Crowd clamors) (statue thuds) (upbeat music) Before I get to the number one thing I learned from Martin Gurri, please take a second to like this video and subscribe to the channel.
(bell dings) It really helps us grow this community of dads who wanna save America together. And now, number one, your kids
are savvier than you think.

[[12:14]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UZCQzI2Ibg&t=734s)
When I was a kid, Apple computers were
still in black and white, if they came with a screen at all, and the internet only connected a handful of computers worldwide. Today, according to the CDC, American kids spend more
than 30% of their lives in front of screens and online. And yes, that's probably too much. Understandably, we, as parents wonder if our kids are equipped to
handle what they might find. But the truth is, because they were born
into this digital world, they're naturally more adept
at navigating it than you or I.

[[12:40]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UZCQzI2Ibg&t=760s)
- These kids were born, and they grew up, with a smartphone in their hands, connecting every moment and
reflecting on every moment, and the early millennials really learned to be digital natives. So they know more than you do, they probably protect
themselves better than you do. Because why? 'Cause
they were born into it. - When it comes to navigating the web, our kids have a better radar
than we give them credit for. They can tell when
someone's being genuine, or trying to sell them something.

[[13:02]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UZCQzI2Ibg&t=782s)
I know, for example,
that my son and his peers are fully aware that they leave a digital
footprint for life. So they've already developed some pretty advanced online street smarts. And I think ironic and absurdist
humor we see on the web is another sign of our
kids' healthy skepticism of elite narratives
and top-down messaging. This doesn't mean that boomers like us have nothing to offer our digital natives. Oh, and we're Gen Xers, by the way - Life just keeps getting better.

[[13:26]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UZCQzI2Ibg&t=806s)
(Both grunt) - Using tools to manage
screen time and access to age appropriate content
are essential for young kids. Asking our kids questions
about their digital lives, their sources of information, and patiently listening to
their answers does wonders. We can learn a lot, and
empower them to feel heard. Ultimately though, our job is to model our values in our actions. So once our kids are old enough, they'll have the tools to
make their own decisions and navigate the stormy
waters of this fifth wave when we're not around - Fine, you're on your own.

[[13:58]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UZCQzI2Ibg&t=838s)
- If you enjoyed this
video, be sure to check out our full conversation with Martin Gurri, where we dive deeper
into this and much more. got new recommendations for
people we should interview? Please, let us know in the comments below. (upbeat music)
We're a nonprofit channel dedicated to unleashing
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[[14:21]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UZCQzI2Ibg&t=861s)
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