I'm Kat Rosenfield. I'm a culture writer, novelist, and the author of a recent persuasion

article titled The Illusion of a Frictionless Existence. This piece began with an interesting fact. Studies show

that Gen Z, today's teens, are doing a lot less dangerous stuff than the generations

that came before them, things like drinking, drugs, sex, and so on.

And when this information first came out, people found it very encouraging.

They were like, we've hacked it, we've done it, we've raised a generation of 15 year olds with

impeccable judgment, everything is great. Turns out if you scratch the surface of this,

you find that it's not just dangerous or criminal behavior that today's teens are avoiding.

They actually don't take any risks at all, including healthy ones, the kind of stuff that serves

as gap bridging toward autonomy and adulthood.

They don't drive, they don't date, they don't have jobs.

They don't do any of the things

that previous generations did to try to assert their independence to kind of get their feet

under them. And looking at that, considering that in its totality, I don't think this generation

is actually sensible. I think that they're scared.

My piece explores how technological advances, plus the influence of the coronavirus

pandemic, has moved us towards a frictionless society where we avoid everyday annoyances through touchless,

contactless, AI-driven methods and how this may be impacting young people who've never known any other way of life.

I worry that we're inculcating fear and helplessness in kids who are learning that

discomfort is dangerous, the independence is too risky, and that the world is a scary place they don't want to be in and can't handle.

The article again is titled The Illusion of a Frictionless existence.

I hope you read it. I hope you like it. I would love to hear your thoughts.

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