Study Shows Staggering Number of Young Men Trapped in “Addiction Economy” of Gambling, Pornography

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Approximately one in eight men ages 18 to 29 use pornography, gamble, and play video games every single day, according to the Institute for Family Studies (IFS).

The IFS report released last month is based on a YouGov survey of 2,000 Gen Z men living in the United States.

In a statement online, sociology professor Brad Wilcox of the University of Virginia said the report shows, “We have a generation of young men trapped in the ‘addiction economy’—and the numbers are staggering.”

Wilcox pointed out that the data shows 11.9% of men in their late teens and twenties use pornography, gamble, and play video games — all three — every single day.

Almost one in four young men said they gambled daily. More than one in four (27%) reported using pornography daily.

But while large number of young men appear to be trapped in the “addiction economy,” Focus on the Family’s Daily Citizen points out that the news isn’t all bad for Gen Z:

“While some may look at the facts above and immediately conclude men are the primary source of society’s problems, there are heartening statistics about young men returning to church and prioritizing family life.

“Young men today are more likely to desire positive important life decisions – like going to church regularly, getting married and having children – than young women are.

“According to Gallup, more young men today (42%) say religion is “very important” to their lives than at any point in the last 25 years. Young men are now more likely than young women (29%) to say religion is “very important” to them.

“For the first time in American history, more men attend church than women – with the disparity especially pronounced among 20-somethings.

“In terms of marriage, IFS reports that 68% of unmarried young men want to get married someday, and 62% of childless young men aspire to be fathers.”

The Daily Citizen is right. We have written before about the “quiet revival” taking place among young adults in America and abroad.

Young adults — men and women alike — have driven Bible sales to record levels and are being baptized into the Christian faith. That’s good news.

But the IFS report’s findings are still deeply concerning. Millions of young adults are trapped by addiction — and in some cases, multimillion-dollar corporations are profiting from it. That should trouble everyone.

Arkansas has taken steps to protect young people from gambling and from internet pornography and other harmful material. Clearly more work still needs to be done.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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Business and the Christian Life: Guest Column

Economics, , , ,

President Calvin Coolidge once said that “the business of America is business.” Too many Christians think of business as either inherently bad, immoral, or perhaps amoral, something set apart from their faith. At best, it pays the bills and support the missionaries, but many fail to see it as also under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. 

Recently, Colson Center COO Pete Marra challenged a group of business leaders to rethink business according to a Christian worldview, especially in light of emerging cultural challenges:  

I believe there’s one thing that changes the world, and that’s the Church. There is no plan B. There’s no alternative to that. It’s the Church. But I also believe that there’s something that is equally under it, so not exactly equal, but equal and under, and I would say that is enterprise. Enterprise being business. 

What we have at our disposal through business, the ability to organize, to solve problems, to create value, to deploy capital, to steward the things that God has given us, is something that’s very unique to enterprise itself. … So, with that kind of framework, I want to talk a little bit about calling and think about place. 

There’s a reason that we use the idea, “You are here.” This can’t be missed on us in this cultural moment, particularly as business leaders—leaders of enterprises—that you were brought to a time and place that God has called you to and God has brought you to. And it’s now. 

[I]t’s not an accident. I believe not only has God brought you to this place and called you to this space, but he’s equipped you for it. [T]here’s something that’s happening inside the world that we’re speaking to in theological spaces, and philosophers and some politicians and business leaders are talking about it, and that’s the age of AI.  

But AI is just a new tool for a bigger problem. The bigger problem that we’re facing—and one that I think is going to impact business and enterprise in a way that we have never seen, at least in my short lifetime—is the fundamental question of, “What does it mean to be human?” 

I know that sounds a little bit heavy or like I’m trying to make a bold statement, but I just want you to think about something like your corporate culture. I want you to think about how you use enterprise when you have an opportunity to become more efficient, make more money, which generates more profit, which gives you more to steward, which is the reason we get into business. 

Let’s not be confused. I’ll stand here and tell you, I love profit. I am never confused about for-profit. In fact, I’ve often joked, I sometimes prefer for-profit businesses over nonprofit, because no one’s confused about what we’re doing. 

But here’s the challenge we’re facing: What happens when that idea of profit and the deployment of capital face a maybe once-in-a-generational upheaval to where we no longer need a workforce? What if the ways we used to think about automating production factory lines, we can now automate everybody? 

Now, is that going to happen next year? No. But these are questions I think business leaders have to start wrestling with now so that they can do that. We need a framework to be able to think through that. That framework is something you’ve seen inside the Truth Rising: The Study, which is that idea of hope, truth, identity, and calling.  

[W]e must remember through these things that that idea of hope is what drives us. Our hope is in Christ, and Christ alone. Never be confused. If that is where we find our hope, then the truth of the world, the truth of God’s story of Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Restoration is the thing that gives us not only meaning, but it helps us anchor the why we do business. 

The Dutch theologian Abraham Kuyper famously said that “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is sovereign over all, does not cry: ‘Mine!’” This is as true about business as about anything else. 

Copyright 2026 by the Colson Center for Christian Worldview. Reprinted from BreakPoint.org with permission.

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Federal Government Strengthens Religious Liberty Protections

Religious Freedom, ,

The U.S. Department of Justice has issued updated guidance directing every federal agency to protect the free exercise of religion.

Religious liberty is recognized and protected under the First Amendment, and it is one of the hallmarks of our nation. But religious freedom has repeatedly come under attack in court, in government, and elsewhere.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the updated guidance on July 23. It is the first change to the DOJ’s religious liberty guidelines since 2017, and it reflects nearly a decade of important U.S. Supreme Court decisions that have expanded protections for people of faith.

The updated guidance includes several important protections. It reaffirms that the government cannot interfere in how churches and religious organizations govern themselves. It protects parents’ right to direct the religious upbringing of their children. It also ensures that religious organizations can compete for federal contracts and grants on equal footing with secular organizations — without being forced to give up their religious identity or hiring practices.

It also makes clear that religious exercise is not just about what people believe in private — it includes how people live out their faith in daily life.

Over the years, wedding venues, bakeries, photography studios, and florist shops have been dragged into court simply because their owners wanted to operate according to their deeply held convictions.

People of faith have faced pressure to check their convictions at the door in order to participate in government programs. This guidance pushes back against that.

Nobody should be forced to choose between their religious convictions and their livelihood, and nobody should be punished for obeying their conscience.

The free exercise of religion is a fundamental right — and it deserves to be treated that way at every level of government.

Arkansas is currently ranked number one in the nation on religious liberty by First Liberty Institute’s Center for Religion, Culture & Democracy. That ranking reflects years of hard work by Arkansas’ lawmakers who have passed strong protections for the free exercise of religion. For example, Arkansas’ Religious Freedom Restoration Act is one of the best in the country.

Strong federal guidance like this works hand in hand with strong state laws like Arkansas’. Together, they help ensure that Arkansans don’t have to worry about being forced to violate their faith.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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