Generation Isolation: Post pandemic young people retreating to their bedrooms
#Pandemic, #YoungPeople, #Isolation #mentalhealth
I think this is interesting as we know that phones are designed to be addictive and social media / Big Tech is also designed to keep you coming back and reward you for doing so.
@zleap I'm a bit of a software engineer and my greatest fear was getting older and newer generations growing up with tech and thus more people knowing what I know. Somehow despite my field, they really don't know, or not in depth anyway. Good software engineers are crazy rare. It's a nightmare hiring new employees for me. I've interviewed people with doctorates who don't know what the hell is going on. But here's the kicker. I'm a loner mostly, and always have been. I pour my life into my work and the rewards are stupendous. But see that was a choice. The youth today could make the same choice. I don't blame big tech. They're out to make money and work hard for it. However kids are supposed to have parents that teach them how the world works. You show me a young child who spends their time with their face buried in their phone and most of them have parents doing the exact same thing. They won't criticize their kids for doing what they do. Now here's the dark reality. I love it. My competition is shrinking and demand is on fire. I now have profit coming from multiple generations that don't know what their doing. I hope more kids become shut-in and dependant on tech I create. Large amounts of stupid = profit. I wish I had tools like edX and mdn and w3schools when I was a kid. If the youth today want to self destruct. Go for it. The people who don't fear the world, run it. Another strange thing.. my best employees never even finished college, and also prefer to avoid society. Yet they don't avoid reality, they travel with me, develop hobbies, self educate, build and create, yet most are introverted and avoid our users. Yet they grew up the same as them, and have a great bill of mental health. So what's wrong? Entitlement and the belief that fame and popularity = a good life and happiness. To be a super hero or a super villain, both require equal effort of doing super things. They have identity problems, they belong to 20 genders. But they think that's some kind of crutch or excuse like that makes them victims, being unique. In this story I'm real villain, and I can tell you I hate and love society equally. How does that make me a villain? I don't care about race, gender, what religion you are. If I smile at you, all I see is another customer who gives me money and doesn't know they're doing it. Oh how I love algorithms:)
@zleap ok so I'm familiar with the structure of your club because I had a client once with the same challenges however his group of volunteers concentrated on disaster relief. Here's how we saved him, cause what you wrote gave me a shred of faith in humanity:).
We learned that same issue where people wanted solutions for free, in this case it's because there was a disaster and they lost almost everything. The volunteers and donators could only give so much because of the assets and liabilities balance of life. Our solutions were cool.
1st step was give them legitimacy, and we registered them as a legal 501c3 non for profit organization and began registering volunteers as dependents of the organization. 501c3 is still a company like a regular company however it's main distinction is that owners don't draw profit from dividends or sale of stock.
Why does this help you? If you do this, you can create relationships with local businesses, and/or government agencies.
Why does that help you? Suddenly, if a company donates old hardware to you it's a tax write off for them. A very good one. Same with grants, you now qualify for government / corporate grants. Instead of considering the club a club, consider it an incubator. Take on challenges with local businesses where your volunteers and members provide solutions. If the solution works. The kids will receive ownership of whatever the solution is. This will generate a small business for the kids and volunteers, and free labor for struggling local businesses who can't afford technology services. This will give the kids not just the feeling of them belonging to a group, but the group belonging to them. It will create a supplemental revenue stream. This revenue stream will allow you to create and host events or challenges in which tech sponsors always jump at the chance to get seen more. Which will add even more self esteem and ownership to your club members.
You don't need lawyers or anything crazy, and the fees for registering are crazy cheap. If you keep everything transparent and use hire your longer term members. It's a sustainable model for a club. Also there's search engines these days for grants. I applaud you for trying to make a difference. If you do manage to legalize your club, I am an ex IBM and Google employee and have contacts there that can help you create projects and partnerships.
Cool thanks
Code Club is part of the Raspberry Pi foundation, so that is a charity / non profit, the club is run by me as a volunteer with Libraries Unlimited
I have helped in schools where the computers not set up properly hinder what I am trying to do, not all schools have technicians any more (budgets) .
I am getting there slowly, got one more volunteer on board which will help me greatly.
Sometimes not having the right tech expertise is an asset,
@skanman
Great piece, I agree with much of what you are saying here.
And yes, there are 2 groups of people those who want to isolate, those that don't
Grab (not literally) the ones that want to be part of something and encourage, nurture them, help them be the best they can be.
I run code club, some kids come every session others come once or twice then vanish, despite showing interest.
I had one interested in cyber security, spent ages putting some video links and other resources together to help me help with that, he never turned up again,
A lot of people want FREE activities, those providing want Volunteers. This never works long term, as the volunteers have no budget or resources to work with, or those resources are badly / never maintained.
I am not addicted to tech, I refuse to be part of the tech that makes people addicted. i can switch off and watch a movie or go and help at my local American Football for a few hours and be phone / tech free.
Keep up with what you are doing, as it is not your fault people choose to pay you and you make money, rather than learning and creating so they make money.