The proven effects of discovering your roots on emotional well-being, resilience, sense of identity and belonging are taking on new relevance in America’s mental health crisis.

By Jacob Hess

Jacob Hess is a staff writer and Latter-day Saint Voices editor for the Deseret News.

The world’s largest family history conference concluded this weekend in Salt Lake City. Despite rapid advances in genealogical technologies, some still perceive family history as interesting primarily to older folks with extra time and an affinity for family lore.

But America’s mental health crisis might change that.

Professor Jonathan Haidt’s highly-anticipated book, “The Anxious Generation,” explores the puzzling deterioration in youth mental health over the last 15 years. Although there are various factors involved, Haidt focuses attention on the arrival of a “phone-based childhood” that ushers young people into an immersive network of digital, social media relationships.

This emergence of the smart phone’s dominance (in the early 2010s) is highly correlated with the sharp downturn in youth mental health, as documented by San Diego State University scholar Jean Twenge over the last decade.

Influenced by this research, no less than 35 states passed laws or resolutions about social media and youth in 2023, few more forceful than Utah, which has made headlines again this year with legislative initiatives looking to curb the effects of social media.

Amidst widespread concern over the effects of immersive social networks — including spikes in loneliness and isolation — less attention has gone to alternative networks where people of all ages can find meaningful connection and healing relationships.

Professional genealogist Lindsay Fulton spoke at RootsTech about the “untapped potential” of family history, including its “incredible and quantifiable impact on young people.” With organizations now poised to offer family history education in classrooms and homes anywhere — including 670 videos available from past RootsTech conferences (and another 858 in Spanish or Portuguese) — experts at the conference spoke about four especially significant emotional and relational benefits of family history:

https://www.deseret.com/faith/2024/03/04/can-family-history-help-youth/