Why are so many young people anxious, angry, and searching for meaning?

At ARC 2026, Arthur Brooks argues that the deepest crisis facing Western civilization is not political but spiritual: a crisis of meaning. Drawing on neuroscience, happiness research, and his own family story, Brooks explains how smartphones and digital life have trapped us in a "left-brain" existence of information and distraction, leaving us starved for purpose, faith, and real human connection.

He offers a hopeful path forward: reclaiming meaning by changing our relationship with technology, asking life's biggest questions, and choosing to love people, use things, and worship what truly matters.

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Buy your 1st edition copy of our new book, The Age of Reconstruction: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1916948510

With the return of the ARC Conference this June, we are publishing a brand new book — the most comprehensive synthesis of ARC’s philosophy to date. Drawing on Augustine, Tolkien, and a long tradition of civilisational thinking, The Age of Reconstruction charts a path from diagnosis to renewal. While many can point out where things have gone wrong, this book does what most can’t: it lays out a vision of what we must build, how, and why it is still possible.

Praise for The Age of Reconstruction:

"Will Western Civilisation flourish, or flounder? It depends on us, and the decisions we make right now. And Johnny Patterson's wonderful 'The Age of Reconstruction' gives us the formula, based on timeless ideas and wisdom." — Arthur Brooks, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author

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Arthur C. Brooks PhD is a social scientist and one of the world's leading authorities on human happiness. He is a Harvard professor, columnist at The Free Press, host of the podcast Office Hours with Arthur Brooks, and author of 16 books, including the #1 New York Times bestsellers Build the Life You Want (co-authored with Oprah Winfrey) and From Strength to Strength.

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00:00 The hidden crisis facing civilization

01:34 Two questions that reveal your life's meaning

03:30 Why young people feel increasingly lost

05:21 Your smartphone is rewiring your brain

09:05 Living in a digital simulation of real life

12:05 Why activism is often a search for meaning

13:10 How to escape the "Matrix" and reclaim purpose

17:46 The formula for a meaningful life

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