Latest / After the Rush Podcast / The Technology You Actually Need to Learn

Transcript

The Technology You Actually Need to Learn · After the Rush Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: there is a specific feeling I want to describe you are on your phone trying
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: to do something simple pay a bill maybe or find the login you reset six months ago
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: and wrote down somewhere the screen changes and suddenly there is a new menu where
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: the old one was and the thing you were looking for is not where it used to be
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: and you try three things that don't work and then you close the app and go find
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: a piece of paper
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: that feeling is not about technology it is about the gap between the world
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: that keeps changing and the mental models we built when it was different I think
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: about that gap a lot not because people in this chapter are behind but
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: because we are often told we are in ways that are not quite honest
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: about what is actually happening this episode is about
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: the technology you actually need to learn in this chapter of life
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: and what that phrase means when someone says it to you in a way
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: that doesn't condescend welcome to after the rush i'm katherine mcdowell this is
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: a show about designing what comes next and you can start anywhere
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: here is
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: the framing
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: when someone tells a person over 55 that they need
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: to learn technology what they often mean is you need to behave more like
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: a younger person does with a device keep up get on
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: the platforms stop printing things out figure out why the Wi-Fi is slow
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: that framing has things backward the people I know
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: in this chapter are not technology resistant they are technology experienced
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: they have watched entire categories of technology arrive be adopted be updated and
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: in some cases be discarded and they have done this more times than
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: the 26 year old explaining the interface
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: to them has been alive they learned spreadsheets before spreadsheets had
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: the name excel they built databases with tools
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: that barely exist anymore they ran organizations on infrastructure
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: that would look primitive now and worked fine
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: what they are sometimes resistant to is novelty for its own sake chasing
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: the new thing before understanding whether the new thing is better or just newer
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: that is not ignorance that is a perfectly reasonable response to having seen a lot
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: of trends so I want to reframe the question not what technology do I need to learn
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: to keep up but what technology actually makes this chapter of life easier
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: more autonomous or more connected to what matters those are different questions
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: with different answers what actually matters I will start with the first category
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: the one that nobody wants to talk about
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: because it sounds unglamorous financial technology I mean the digital infrastructure
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: of your financial life online banking that you understand well enough to catch
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: an error
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: the habit of actually looking at your accounts on a regular basis rather
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: than waiting for the statement a password system that does not rely on
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: a notebook you cannot find when you travel the ability to set up
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: and adjust automatic transfers without calling someone two-factor authentication
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: on anything that touches your money because the alternative is expensive
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: and demoralizing this is not exciting it is also not optional
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: and the cost
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: of not doing it is not just inconvenience it is vulnerability financial fraud
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: against people in this age group is staggeringly common the technology you need most
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: at the foundation is the technology that protects what you built I came
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: from very little the discipline I learned when I had almost nothing was
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: if I can't pay cash for this today I can't afford it at all
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: that discipline built every option I have now the digital equivalent of
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: that discipline is your financial life needs to be legible to you accessible to you
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: and protected by you if you are handing that off to someone else because
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: the interface is confusing that is a gap worth closing the communication layer
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: the second category is communication and this one is genuinely complicated
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: because it has real emotional
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: and relational stakes my sons are adults they have careers and families we talk on
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: the phone sometimes we also text and there is a family group chat
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: and occasionally someone will send a voice message which I have mixed feelings about
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: my grandchildren communicate almost entirely through platforms I did not grow up
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: with our extended family is scattered in ways that make the phone call feel
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: to them like a formal occasion rather than a normal touch point
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: the technology I have had to learn in this chapter is not the platform itself it is
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: the communication culture of people I love what counts as a response and
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: in what time frame
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: what merits a call versus a text how to be present in a family group chat
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: without becoming the one who calls a family meeting every time someone sends a meme
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: that is a real skill it is not about being on tick tock
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: it is about understanding that the people you love are reachable in ways
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: that have norms you did not set and that learning those norms is an act
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: of relationship maintenance the same principle applies to staying connected
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: to professional networks to communities to friends
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: who live far away video calls are not a replacement for being in the room
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: but they are a genuine thing
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: and people who can use them fluently have access to relationships that people
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: who avoid them have lost I am not saying learn every platform I am saying figure out
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: how the people you actually want to reach prefer to be reached and learn enough of
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: that to be reliably present
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: health and autonomy is the category where technology has made
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: the most tangible difference in what I see around me and where the stakes are
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: the highest people in this chapter are managing their own health at a level
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: of detail that previous generations mostly handed off to someone else that is partly
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: because medicine has changed partly
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: because chronic conditions require daily engagement rather
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: than quarterly appointments
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: and partly because the healthcare system has changed in ways that require patients
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: to be more active in their own care.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: The technology this actually requires is more specific than it sounds.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: It is reading the patient portal after an appointment, not just the paper summary.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: It is knowing how to look up a medication interaction,
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: not to replace your doctor's judgment,
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: but to arrive at the appointment with a real question
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: rather than a vague worry it is understanding what your health insurance will
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: and will not cover which requires navigating websites that were not built for people
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: who are anxious and time pressured I spent decades in clinical practice the patients
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: who did the best were not the ones who were most compliant they were the ones
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: who were most informed and most willing to engage
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: technology has made it possible to be more informed between appointments
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: than was ever realistic before the question is whether you are using it i want
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: to be specific about what i am not saying i am not saying to research your symptoms
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: on the internet until you are terrified i am not saying
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: to second guess your physician i am saying that the portal message
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: the medication list the ability to see your own lab results and understand what
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: the reference ranges mean
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: these are tools that cost you almost nothing to learn and they change the quality of
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: the conversation you can have with your own health care team the question of AI
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: since we are here I would be avoiding the obvious if I did not talk
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: about artificial intelligence because it is everywhere and
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: the conversation around it is not always honest about what it is actually useful for
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: at this particular moment in its development I use it
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: i want to be clear about that i use it to help me think through problems
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: to create cover images to check my math on complicated calculations it has become
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: a genuine part of how i work what it is not is an oracle it makes things up
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: with tremendous confidence it can be wrong in ways that are hard to spot
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: if you are not already somewhat familiar with
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: the subject it does not replace expertise
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: it amplifies your ability to ask better questions which is useful but only
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: if you already know enough to evaluate the answers the technology you actually need
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: to learn when it comes to AI is not any specific tool the tools will change faster
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: than you can keep up with them what you need to learn is the discipline of using it
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: as a first draft rather than a final answer
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: that discipline applies to a search engine to and a Wikipedia page and anything else
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: that gives you an answer with more confidence than the evidence warrants people
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: in this chapter did not grow up trusting authority uncritically most people
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: over 55 have watched institutions be wrong in ways that were costly
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: that same skepticism is an asset when dealing with technology
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: that presents confidence without always having the goods to back it up I want
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: to say something about the framing of technological competence because I think
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: the conversation is often designed to make people in this chapter feel behind
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_00: and I do not think that is an accurate picture the people I know
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: who are most effective with technology in this chapter are not the ones
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: who learn every new thing immediately
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: they are the ones who are clear about what they are trying to do and selective
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: about what tools actually help them do it they did not build that capacity by trying
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: to keep up with people 20 years younger than them they built it
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: by treating technology the way they treat any other tool as something that serves
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: the work not the other way around what this chapter requires is not
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: a different relationship to technology than you had before
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: it requires the same one curiosity without panic enough working knowledge
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_00: to protect yourself and stay connected willingness to ask for help when
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: the interface is genuinely bad and the problem is the design not you
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: because sometimes the problem is the design I spent a long time assuming that
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_00: when I could not find the thing I was looking for I was doing something wrong
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_00: it turns out that a lot of software is just badly designed for the person
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: who is not already immersed in it that is a design problem you are not obligated
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_00: to internalize it as a personal failure
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_00: last year i finally set up the automatic transfer my husband had been suggesting
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: for years the one where a fixed amount moves from checking to savings on the first
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: of the month before i have a chance to look at the balance
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: and decide it might be needed for something else it took about 10 minutes
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_00: and i did it myself
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_00: i looked at the confirmation screen for longer than necessary for no reason except
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_00: that it worked and i had been putting it off for a long time
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_00: the technology was not complicated what took ten years was deciding
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: the outcome was worth the ten minutes that is the thing about most
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_00: of what i have described today the gap is rarely
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: about capability it is almost always about priority
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_00: about deciding that this particular tool is worth the hour it takes to understand it
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_00: because what it does on the other side of that hour is genuinely yours start
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_00: with what protects you then what connects you then what gives you more information
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: about your own life everything else can wait
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_00: thank you for listening to after the rush if this conversation is useful
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: to you i'd love for you to share it with someone who might be standing at
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: the same threshold you can find more at after the rush letter dot Substack dot com
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_00: and if you haven't subscribed yet that's where everything lives related tools
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_00: and guides are at after the rush dot store i'll be back next week