Increasing the odds of a better world for our kids

You’re disillusioned and I get it. You’ve grown up in a crappy time — Iraq, the financial crisis, Trump, George Floyd, the pandemic, a widespread sense that you won’t be as well off as your parents.

But I grew up in a crappy time, too. I’m old enough to remember the assassinations of 1968. Over the next few years, Americans experienced defeat in Vietnam, crime rates beginning to surge and the hollowing out of cities, the energy crisis, wages beginning to decline, stagflation and Watergate. David Brooks, NYT, March 30, 2023

Like many parents and grandparents, I am concerned about the state of the world my offspring will need to navigate.  As I read, watch, and doom-scroll the news, I feel less impending dread about today, for myself but more a sense of hopelessness and helplessness for the younger members of my family. Climate change, political divisiveness, growing national debt, weakening social safety nets, developing world diasporas, and (the latest) maturing sentient AI that will soon master “Sorry, Dave, I can’t do that” all feel very threatening indeed.

So I was happy to read the always thoughtful David Brooks’s opinion piece quoted above. In it he argues that this country has always swung from periods of instability back to those of growth and prosperity - and that we are entering a more positive time. I sense he is right.

We also tend to compare our circumstances to those living near us chronologically. Despite the “existential threats” we are facing, I have always been glad not to have been born  in times of plagues, Mongol invasions, trench warfare, human slavery, or outhouses with corn cobs instead of toilet paper. 

Factfullness by Hans Roling reminds readers that the human condition has been improving world-wide and that income, health, and peacefulness are all better than they ever have been in human history. Pinker’s Better Angels of our Nature argues that human violence is at its all time lowest. The US is working diligently to reduce racism, homophobia, and religious intolerance despite the ravings of a few political outliers. 

What as parents and grandparents can we personally do to increase the likelihood of the world becoming a better place for future generations rather than one that is worse? 

• Think long-term. As I write this, the newspapers’ front pages are of little but Trump’s appearance in court. In a couple years, few will remember what all the stink was about. What will we still be concerned about? Climate change. Income inequities. Crime rates. Clean drinking water. Political stability. Actions, including the choice of political leaders to vote for, should be done with long-term issues in mind.

• Remember even small actions count. My choice of what car to buy, how much food I throw away, whether I recycle, if I pick up the litter I find on hiking trails, how many hours I volunteer, what charitable organizations I contribute to (and how much), all seem but small waves in a maelstrom of world problems. But I make these decisions and take these actions for my grandchildren as much as for the current community.

• Build resilience. No matter how bad the world becomes, there will still be those who will survive and thrive. Or at least have better odds of doing so. I have always felt it was important to take my kids and grandkids on adventures that test their stamina - especially good, strenuous hikes. In school and in Scouts, they learned that work and perseverance are necessary for success. Tough times may well call for tough people. And they can be tough when necessary.

• Educate your own children. Both my kids have college degrees and my grandsons are both on the path for getting them. While college degrees help vocationally most of the time, they also give an expanded view of the world and an introduction (and perhaps tolerance) to a variety of viewpoints and empathy for those in less fortunate circumstances. A college education is not necessary for all people. But education is.

• Be financially responsible. My children’s lives will be easier if they don’t have to worry about me in my rapidly encroaching dotage. While neither will receive a heck of a lot of monetary inheritance (unless that Nigerian banker comes through), neither should they find it necessary to pay for my care. I spend a good deal of my retirement income on travel and will continue to do so, but I will do so, at least somewhat responsibly.

Are you concerned about the world we are leaving for future generations? How do you individually act to make it more probable your kids’ world will be better, not worse? Or do you even worry about it? Curious minds want to know.

Tech skills for older adults

I did not touch a personal computer until 1982 when my middle school purchased an Apple II  that was housed in the library. I was 30 years old at the time. I was a late adopter of smartphone technologies. I still hate texting and do little on social media. 

I did not grow up with technology. I am, admittedly, a geezer. 

The same can be said of many of the people I serve as a volunteer. Nearly all are my age and most are older. Few seem comfortable with many of the technologies younger people simply take for granted. And that have become nearly essential to everyday life.

One of things about which I remain most proud as a technology director was identifying technology skills needed by teachers - a number of years before our national organizations like ISTE tackled the project. My  CODE 77 rubrics and Advanced CODE 77 rubrics, tried and tested in the Mankato Schools, were widely used - if requests for use and sales of my book which was based on them were any indication.

Perhaps it is past time to identify skills we chronologically gifted individuals need if we wish to remain safe and fully functional in today’s digital world. The few sets of skills I find when doing an Internet search on the topic seem more academic than practical. So while I may be reinventing the wheel, I’ll list the understandings and skills I find from my experience to be most useful and necessary. I welcome additions, challenges, or changes…

1. Basic awareness. Understanding what resources are currently in use and useful to meet one’s personal needs. This includes hardware, software, and online resources. 

2. Trouble-shooting/support. Knowing how to fix common technology problems and where to go to find help for more complex issues. Knowing where to go for training specifically for older adults.

3. Communications. Knowing how to communicate using email, texting, and social media platforms with family, friends, and businesses. 

4. Finance. Knowing how to safely use online resources to pay bills, receive payments, and monitor banking and investment accounts.

5. Entertainment. Knowing how to find movies, music, and reading materials online and understanding the costs associated with these resources.

6. Shopping. Knowing how to find, select, and place orders online for clothing, food, and other basic items. 

7. Navigation. Knowing how to use online maps to find walking, driving, mass transit, and bicycling routes to selected destinations and how to use a car’s navigation system if available.

8. Information searching and evaluation. Knowing how to search specific websites for information, discriminate between advertisements and articles, and determine the reliability of the information found

9. Safety. Knowing how to identify and avoid scammers and other dishonest online schemes. Learning the indicators of an illegitimate request for money.

10. Smartphone use. Knowing the basic functions of a smartphone including the voice phone, texting, and photo taking.

Each of these areas need to be more fully developed, of course. And very likely individualized. Some should probably be “recommended, but optional.”

Readers, what in your experience are the most important tech skills for older adults? 

Who is the better parent?

Star Tribune, March 26, 2023

A piece of classroom management advice I still remember from my student teaching days was: “Never make a rule you can’t enforce.” I thought about that warning when I read the news clipping above.

While I am not sure the enforcement of “putting a curfew on social media use from 10:30 pm  to 6:30 am is even possible, not to mention extremely burdensome for tech companies, I am even more bothered by this attempt by lawmakers to usurp parental authority. Why do politicians feel they would be better parents to children than the actual parents themselves?*

This is but one of many recent proposals in which parental authority is being replaced by governmental regulation. Book banners want to restrict other people’s kids from reading things they themselves do not like. Anti-gender affirming and abortion laws move medical decisions from the family to the government. What’s next - banning all sugar-coated cereal from the home breakfast table and requiring all students use gender-neutral bathrooms? Good grief.

This is not to say that I don’t think governmental regulation is necessarily a bad thing. I sort of like things like speed limits, health requirements in restaurants and meat packing plants, and effective banking rules. These all seem somewhat enforceable.

And kids under 18 should have parental permission in making decisions that will have life-long consequences like gender changes and abortions. (In Minnesota, those under 18 need parental permission to get a tattoo. A recent pundit in the local paper suggested we become a sanctuary state for youngsters wanting, but denied, body art in their own states.)

Why does it seem that both sides of the political spectrum have lost faith in the ability of parents to raise children who are good people? How can we place so little faith in our own neighbors?

*Parents can enforce the social media curfew (and most other internet misuse) by simply not allowing personal technologies to be used in the bedroom. Seemed to work pretty well for my daughter’s family.