How to Be Brave

Picture: This is Engineering on Unsplash Last week I went to Google’s third annual AI for Learning Forum. The goal was to look at the evidence: Is AI helping kids learn better, or making them dumber? Is it helping teachers teach better? Is it building trust, which is essential, since learning is a fundamentally social process? Is it augmenting human relationships or displacing them? Is it personalizing learning—as tech has long promised to do—and offering faster and more precise feedback?

Photo by Wes McFee on Unsplash Last week, a sweeping set of research came out that should really change how we see the Covid pandemic and its effect on young people. How to Be Brave is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Many people who parented through that time have feared, ever since, that it had a lasting impact on a whole generation of kids—an idea that’s been reinforced by the popular discourse.

Photo: Alexey Dmidov for Unsplash. How to Be Brave is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. I started my journalism career covering finance and economics, which means I spent an inordinate amount of my 20s and 30s thinking about incentives, markets and trade-offs. Part of the reason I worry about tech is that the incentives are 100% not in kids’ favor.

Photo: Timur Shakerzianov on Unsplash How to Be Brave is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. I have 15- and 17-year old girls, which means I have witnessed, supported and coached the two of them through a lot of friendship issues (in their words, drama).

Photo: Alexander Grey for Unsplash Data is starting to come in on smartphone bans in schools, and everyone is trying to make sense of it. The headline: Smartphone bans seem to make kids and teachers happier. How to Be Brave is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Of course, it’s not that simple.

Democracy is fraying. It’s being eroded from the top and, simultaneously, losing the bedrock that will sustain it long term: a generation of young people ready to defend it. A big reason it’s losing resonance is that democracy doesn’t trickle down (just like economics don’t trickle down). It bubbles up—from all people, and especially young people, participating, engaging, caring and believing they can have impact.

My panel at ASU+GSV How to Be Brave is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. I just got back from ASU+GSV, a vast education and tech conference held in San Diego every year. It’s a place that sparks strong emotions, and can be breathless about tech in a way I don’t always buy. But I love it.

Hello How to Be Brave humans! Thank you for reading. I’m deeply grateful for your time and attention, which is why I’d love your help making this newsletter better. I wrote a survey that takes about 3 minutes, and honest answers (including critical ones) are the most useful thing you can give me. As a thank you, I’ll send a free book to a randomly-picked respondent (The Disengaged Teen or, if you have it, another great book).

Photo: Vince Fleming for Unsplash “How do I know when to push my daughter, and when to support her?” a mom asked me at a recent event. She herself came from a traditional Mexican family, she explained, where expectations were clear: she needed to do well in school, respect her elders, and follow whatever rules her parents set. “It feels so different now,” she said. “I worry more about her mental health, I don’t know what’s too much.” I have been asked versions of this question hundreds of times.

Wonderful How to be Brave readers: Photo by Yuri Figueiredo on Unsplash How to Be Brave is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Wonderful How to be Brave readers, I hope you are having a good summer. Mine’s been tough. My mom had a stroke which, even though her health has been failing for a while, has totally upended me. As such, and because it’s summer, I am going to take a break for a few weeks.