A Philosopher Diagnosed the Problem.
Here's What He's Missing.

A response to Jared Henderson's "I don't like what the internet is doing to me"

Jared Henderson is one of the sharpest philosophy YouTubers on the platform. 738,000 subscribers. Millions of views. The man can think. And in his most recent video — a raw, personal confession — he admits something that 147,000 people watched in four days and collectively said: "Me too."

"I don't like what the internet is doing to me."

He's not wrong. He's just not finished.

What Jared Got Right

Henderson draws on three books to frame his struggle, and all three land:

We're drowning in information that has no substance. Digital "things" aren't things at all. They're ghosts. You can't hold a like. You can't eat a subscriber count.

The internet doesn't just display who you are. It replaces who you are. Your profile becomes your identity. When the profile underperforms, you feel like a failure — even when nothing in your actual life has changed.

This is the knockout punch. Nguyen argues that metrics — views, likes, engagement scores — are designed to replace the values they were supposed to measure. You start creating because you love philosophy. You end up creating because the number went up. The score ate the soul.

Henderson's confession 10:24: the joy of teaching philosophy has been replaced by the dopamine of checking analytics. His response was to drop all sponsorships and fund through Patreon and Substack instead.

That takes guts. Most creators won't even name the problem, let alone sacrifice income over it.

What Jared Is Missing

Here's where a Marine minister has to respectfully push back on a secular philosopher.

Henderson correctly identified the disease. But his prescription is incomplete.

"Step away from the internet" is the equivalent of telling an alcoholic to "just drink less." It addresses the behavior without addressing the void the behavior fills. And any operator who's been downrange knows: you don't neutralize a threat by backing away from it. You neutralize a threat by understanding what's driving it and cutting the supply line.

So what's driving it?

The Real Diagnosis: A Worship Disorder

Augustine of Hippo nailed it 1,600 years ago: "Our hearts are restless until they rest in You."

What Henderson describes — the compulsive checking, the identity displacement, the metric-driven anxiety — is not a technology problem. It's a worship problem.

Every human being was designed to orient their attention, affection, and identity toward something ultimate. When that something is God, it's called worship. When it's anything else — views, likes, subscriber counts, career validation — it's called idolatry. There is no third option. The heart will worship. The only question is what.

The algorithm didn't steal Henderson's joy. He handed his worship to something that was never built to hold it.

The metrics are golden calves. They shine. They promise validation. And they leave you empty every single time. Exodus 32 has entered the chat — and it reads like a Silicon Valley case study.

The cure isn't less internet. It's more God — and more of the world He made.

The Solution Jared Can't Offer

Henderson's audience — 147,000 people in four days — is starving for what he can't give them:

• Identity rooted in something unmovable. Not a profile. Not a platform. Not an engagement rate. "I am a child of God" doesn't fluctuate with the algorithm. It didn't fluctuate when Israel was in the desert, and it won't fluctuate when your last post got twelve likes. (1 John 3:1)
• Community that doesn't require engagement metrics. Real brotherhood. Men who show up at your door, not your comment section. Men who know your name, not your handle. (Hebrews 10:24–25)
• Purpose that transcends the score. If your calling comes from God, no analytics dashboard can validate or invalidate it. You were not put here to optimize. You were put here to obey. (Colossians 3:23–24)
• Disciplines that rebuild what the screen dissolves. Prayer doesn't have a like button. Fasting can't be growth-hacked. Scripture doesn't care about your watch time. These are the ancient practices that reconnect a man to reality — and to the God who made it.

What You Can Do Right Now

If Henderson's video resonated with you, here are five action steps that go deeper than "step away":

1. Define your identity BEFORE you open the app.

Write down who you are — not what you do. "I am a husband. A father. A man under God's authority." Tape it to your monitor. Read it before you create, post, or scroll. If you can't say who you are without referencing a platform, that's your first problem.

2. Replace metric-checking with prayer.

Every time you reach for the analytics, pray instead. Not a long prayer. Just: "Lord, the work is Yours. The results are Yours. I am Yours." Do this for one week. Watch how fast the anxiety loses its grip.

3. Fast from screens one day a week.

A digital Sabbath. Sundown to sundown — pick your day. No phone, no laptop, no scrolling. Read a physical book. Talk to your family. Sit in the silence. Boredom is where God often speaks loudest, and we've engineered an entire civilization around never being bored.

4. Find three men who will hold you accountable.

Not online. In person. Men who will ask hard questions about your screen time, your thought life, your prayer life. The kind of men who will call you out and call you up. If you don't have those men, finding them is job one. Everything else is downstream of that. (Proverbs 27:17)

5. Read Exodus.

The whole book. Start here in the Bible Translation Engine. Israel was enslaved to a system that valued their productivity over their humanity. God delivered them — not into comfort, but into covenant. Not into ease, but into identity. The parallels to our digital enslavement aren't subtle. They're staggering.

The Bottom Line

Jared Henderson is brilliant. His diagnosis is accurate. But a diagnosis without a cure is just a death sentence delivered politely.

The cure isn't less internet. It's more God. It's not fewer screens — it's a reordered heart. The man who knows who he is and Whose he is can pick up any tool — including the internet — and wield it without being wielded by it.

The algorithm is not your enemy. Your disordered worship is. Fix the worship, and the algorithm becomes what it always should have been: a tool in the hand of a man on mission, not a master over a man without one.

"You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you." — Isaiah 26:3

Sources & References

Scripture References

All verses link to the U.S.M.C. Ministries Bible Translation Engine for full context, cross-references, and the MOOP translation.

• Exodus 32 — The Golden Calf
• 1 John 3:1 — Children of God
• Hebrews 10:24–25 — Stirring up love
• Colossians 3:23–24 — Work for the Lord
• Proverbs 27:17 — Iron sharpens iron
• Isaiah 26:3 — Perfect peace

Adam "MOOP" Johns is a Christ-following husband and father, retired US Marine, military aviator, and combat veteran (21 years of service), NASM-certified personal trainer, and men's discipleship coach who has been investing in the formation of men for over 25 years. He holds an M.Div. from Liberty University and founded U.S.M.C. Ministries — Uniting, Serving, Mentoring & Counseling — in Fredericksburg, VA.