“Mingling” Social Skills More Important Than Ever!
Automation is affecting us all in our day-to-day and professional lives. Suddenly, hundreds of career paths and frontline jobs have gone the way of the dodo bird- If a robot or an app can do it, why pay for a human to do it? A friend of mine replaced 40 employees last year with 1.5 employees and an automation app, adding, “And I don’t have to tell the automation program to stop scrolling on its phone!”
What will remain for the next generation of employees are jobs requiring HUMAN skills that A.I. bots cannot replicate: Social Skills and Character Skills like Communication, Collaboration, Creativity, Leadership, Risk-Taking, and Empathy.
Put yourself into the life of a young person today- Surrounded by intoxicating screens at home: iPads, computers, streaming TVs, smart phones, video games- and when they get to school, they get handed a laptop or stare at their teacher’s screens most of the day. Even the most disciplined families’ kids are staring at screens 4-8 hours per day, much of their waking lives.
Where’s the antidote to this societal reality? For kids: Summer Camps! For adults- kindred groups where people not only “network” but socialize, meet new people, synergize, and god-forbid, have a couple of cocktails and maybe even hook up! In today’s times, young people are going out less, socializing less, marrying less, and having less babies- Less than the replacement rate, of late! Chambers of Commerce, Rotary, Bowling Leagues, Book Clubs, concerts, Renaissance Faires- HUMAN INTERACTION with a common cause. These are ways that we hone our HUMAN SKILLS, and learn to care for one another, because we get to know one another.
At Summer Camp, kids can be kids- Outdoors, screen-free, playing with each other, navigating social relationship, getting sweaty and dirty, swimming, chasing butterflies, overcoming disappointments, and learning how to compromise- the way it was for thousands of years before Microsoft, Apple, Meta, TikTok, and the Internet hijacked our world and the lives of our precious children.
We’re living in a world that is more “connected” through technology, but much less connected in human spirit. Social media and politics have us separated like prison gangs- Yet, we have no idea what political affiliations most of our chamber friends are, and we don’t care- and we shouldn’t!
Andy Pritikin is the Owner/Director of Liberty Lake Day Camp, Past President of the American Camp Association NY/NJ, and Owner/Producer of the New Jersey Renaissance Faire