The kids are doomed. They can’t focus, won’t work, live on their phones, and outsource their thinking to AI. This holds up... until you spend five minutes actually talking to them.
My older children and their friends are socially aware, morally articulate, and suspicious of the modern information environment. They’re digitally literate, but wildly perceptive. They're switched on about fake news, concerned about environmental degradation - and doggedly resistant to AI.
Jonathan Haidt and his ilk caution us about an anxious, fragile generation shaped by smartphones. They sneer at the provision of safe spaces, decry a generation that doesn't want to work until their fingers fall off, and are confident in telling kids what's good for them.
And hey, I'm not downplaying the downside of kids who grow up glued to screens - I'm the mean screen time Mum. (Get outside, you little shits!) But this framing of kids: as passive receivers of the world, as helpless, work-shy idiots... it doesn't sit right with me. I wonder if we've confused a regulation gap that allows powerful, predatory technology companies to operate unchecked, with a feebleness in the young.
Kids don't read anymore, people tell me, while they ignore the thriving BookTok and litgirl movements, miss that their teenagers consume hours-long critiques of films, albums, and TV shows on YouTube, go on podcast deep-dives, know the lore of their favourite graphic novel inside out, and curate their playlists with the dedication of a lovelorn mixtape.
Kids don't have communication skills, Boomers lament, while they check their texts during dinner and scroll on the toilet.
Pah.
Sam Altman and Mark Zuckerberg live in delusional virtual realities where predictive code and sponsored ads replace human connection, but teenagers are sending 1000 word DMs bursting with feeling, and the only people left on Facebook are over 35. Legislators think they can ban phones at school, but the kids are laughing all the way to the group chat.
It's so cliché, to assume the youth have gone to the dogs. The 'kids are doomed' panic is as old as Socrates - and about as reliable. We fret they won't cope in the world we've created. But who are the ones spending eight hours a day on email, playing reels out loud in public, and checking their phone mid-conversation?
Many young people I know have better digital etiquette than their parents and grandparents put together - and are also keen participants in conversations about politics, social justice, and economic equity. My 20 year old daughter has two TikTok accounts, set up to show her two different content rabbit holes so she can form her own views. A lefty, and a righty. Genius.
Plenty of students disillusioned with standardised, box-ticking, assessment-led education are using ChatGPT to write their essays as they grind their way toward an unstable job market. It could be a sign of laziness or stupidity. Or a sensible response to a broken system that became obsolete decades ago.
If a student can outsource their thinking to AI and hack their way to a degree, we're thinking incorrectly about the purpose of a degree. Systems 101, ref Stafford Beer = POSIWID. The purpose of the system is what it does. If you don't like the outcome, change the system.
In my world - books, publishing, et al - I watch my contemporaries with awe. Young, smart people shine in the new information landscape. They make thoughtful, well-researched content. They bypass the old gatekeepers to create their own media platforms. They’re Instagram poets, self-made brand partners, one-woman newspapers, podcast hosts and video savants.
And look, it would be remiss of me to paint a rose-tinted picture just because I like my kids and their mates. The risks are real, and your vigilance is warranted. Social media algorithms elevate manosphere content, facilitate bullying, expose kids to predators, and make vulnerable teenagers feel like shit. Education is in a transition phase that could mess with a whole generation of learning. Having the option to outsource your brain is going to mess some people up, young and old. All true.
But there's green shoots out there too, and the doomsday vibe is just too blinkered and inevitable. While we wring our hands in worry about the safety of our jobs at the email mill, we might miss the next wave of progress entirely.
So this week's hot take is this: The kids are all right. They'll adapt to a new world while we shout from our armchairs, and they've probably got the answers for whatever's coming at us. If anyone would listen to them, that is.
Til next week,
AM
