Let them fall
We've never had more technology, science and research to help us look after ourselves... and I'm not sure it's making us any tougher.
This one isn't about business. It's just something I keep thinking about.
The Oura score problem
Here's the example that sums it up for me.
Someone has a bad night's sleep. A generation ago, they'd get up, have a coffee and get on with the day.
Now they wake up, check their Oura ring and see a score of 70.
And suddenly the whole day is programmed to feel worse.
I'm not anti-tracking. Fitness trackers and all the data that comes with them can be incredibly useful.
We want to be protected from everything
I think the deeper thing going on is that, with so much information available, people increasingly want to be protected from every possible downside.
Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff wrote about this in The Coddling of the American Mind. Their argument is that people are antifragile, like muscles or immune systems, and if you protect them from every knock, they get weaker, not stronger.
I don't think it's just an American thing. You can see it in Australia too, and probably anywhere comfortable enough to afford it.
Thinking about it as a future dad
I'm not a father yet, but I hope to be one day, so this is something I think about more than I used to.
These days you can track your baby's sleep, breathing and feeds, watch endless videos on every milestone and read a study on every decision.
I get why. Every parent wants to do right by their kid.
But think about the generations before us that didn't have any of this. For the most part, they turned out just fine.
That's not to say there weren't real issues back then, because there were, and plenty of what we've learned since is really good.
It's the "too much" part that worries me. At some point you have to let your kid fall over, and let young people face a bit of real difficulty on their own.
The privilege paradox
I see a version of this a lot with very successful people.
They've worked incredibly hard, often come from tough beginnings, and the last thing they want is for their kids to go through the same hardship.
I get it. But I think it's counterintuitive.
The more privilege and protection you give a child, the less equipped they are to actually deal with the world, and the less able they are to build something that lasts on their own.