Episode 233: Preparing Our Kids for a Tech-Driven World with Marc Beckman
/In this week’s episode, I’m excited to be joined by Marc Beckman, CEO of the award-winning advertising agency DMA United, parent, and author of the bestselling book Some Future Day: How AI is Going to Change Everything. Together, we dive into how technology is rapidly changing the world our kids are growing up in.
Here are the topics we covered:
Parents struggle with embracing fast tech advances while worrying about their children’s overuse and online risks
How to guide kids to question AI content while exploring its creative and educational benefits
Balancing the educational benefits of AI with teaching children foundational learning and critical thinking skills
How emerging technologies like AI, social media, and cryptocurrency empower kids to create and launch new ventures from anywhere
Challenges and concerns around kids’ social media use, especially exposure to low-quality content and screen time overload, and how parents can help create a healthy balance and set boundaries
Balanced view of technology’s benefits and risks
How artificial intelligence should be viewed and used as a responsible, balanced tool that can enhance our lives, careers, and communities
Resources:
If you want to know more about Marc, follow him on Instagram @marcbeckman, LinkedIn @marcbeckman and X (formerly Twitter) @marcbeckman. He also hosts a great show called Some Future Day, available on Spotify, YouTube, and Apple Podcasts, which explores where technology meets culture—definitely worth a listen if you’re curious about the future.
Remember, technology is a powerful tool that can help kids grow curious, creative, and balanced when used thoughtfully.
TRANSCRIPT
Parenting is often lived in the extremes. It's either great joy or chaotic, overwhelmed. In one moment, you're nailing it and the next you're losing your cool. I want to help you find your way to the messy middle, to a place of balance. You see balance is a verb, not a state of being. It is a thing you do. Not a thing you are. It is an action, a process, a series of micro corrections that you make each and every day to keep yourself feeling centered. We are never truly balanced. We are engaged in the process of balancing.
Hello, I'm Dr. Laura Froyen and this is The Balanced Parent Podcast where overwhelmed, stressed out and disconnected parents go to find tools, mindset shifts and practices to help them stop yelling at the people they love and start connecting on a deeper level. All delivered with heaping doses of grace and compassion. Join me in conversations that will help you get clear on your goals and values and start showing up in your parenting, your relationships, your life with openhearted authenticity and balance. Let's go!
Laura: Hello, everybody. This is Dr. Laura Froyen, and on this week's episode of The Balanced Parent Podcast, we're going to be digging into technology and how it's really going to change the worlds that our kids are growing up in. And this is a really important conversation for us to have. It's one that my husband and I talk about and think about a lot as we look at the way technology is changing and the world our kids are going to be moving into. So I'm really excited to have this conversation. Marc Beckman is joining us. He has written a really compelling book about some of the ways that the world is changing and how technology is a part of that. Marc, welcome to the show. Why don't you tell us a little bit more about who you are and what you do?
Marc: Laura, it's so great to see you and meet you and be on your show. Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited, I guess the reason I'm here is for my book, which has actually become number one on Amazon for artificial intelligence, number one for cryptocurrency, and number one for robotics. It's called Some Future Day How AI is going to Change Everything. And what I've done with this book, Laura, is I've created. Essentially a tool kit for beginners. So if you have parents all over the world listening to your show and they're curious as to what tools are available to positively impact their career, their family and their community, my book Some Future Day, How AI is going to Change Everything covers it all and literally after every single chapter. I provide access. I list and name the tools that are available that, you know, parents and families can use today to again, improve their overall life, their families, their careers and their communities. My background is a little bit more expensive though, if you want me to get into it, I'm happy to do so.
Laura: Well, I think let's just start talking a little bit about the kind of tension between some of these advances. So, I don't know how old you are, but I'm an 80s baby, and so growing up, technology kind of had this weird space where it was growing fast for me, and I mean, but it wasn't at the level. That it is now and it wasn't growing at the rate that it is now. I mean, my mom was an elementary reading teacher, so she would bring home her computer, her Mac from school for the summers. And so for 3 months out of every year I had access to a computer at home to play, you know, word Munchers or Oregon Trail, you know, but that was like my childhood and it's so different now. And I think sometimes for parents, it can be overwhelming, the rate at which things are changing and the way that these kids who are, what, like tech natives understand things so fast and in ways that we don't. I don't like, can we just talk a little bit about that tension between it being exciting and also a little scary for us as parents?
Marc: Yeah, for sure. Well, first I have to tell you I'm laughing when you ask me, or you imply you don't know how old I am. I am old enough to tell you that when I was in undergrad, we still had typewriters that we used and then when I went to law school, we had email that was only within the law school. The email didn't go outside of the law school.
Laura: I filled out my applications on typewriters. There, you know, there were no online applications or computer applications. So yeah, we're right there.
Marc: But, I think that you're concerned, or at least highlighting this tension between access to information as well as maybe consuming too much information, the wrong information or information that can cause harm is really valid. It's a concern. Mine, as you're aware, I have two children. I have an 8 year old and a 16-year-old, and these kids are plugged in. They have phones, they have iPads, they have computers, they're plugged in at home. They're plugged in at school, and by the way, they go to a Quaker school and they're totally plugged in. And I have to tell you that it is sometimes amazing. My 16 year old son, for example, he's been going to sleep listening to really, you know, highly valuable tech talks because he's interested, probably for the past 6 or 7 years. And it gives him, you know, a tremendous wealth of knowledge, access to information.
He's curious, so it's inspiring too. Whereas in stark contrast, during COVID, he became totally addicted to his devices, and he uses them with friends all over the world. During COVID, it was a good thing. It allowed for him to unlock access to individuals, play, socialization, etc. But now, in many ways, it's limiting and it's very disconcerting, because I believe that you know, physical interaction with the real world in many ways is healthier and better than just being on devices. And, as you're aware, artificial intelligence is permeating every aspect of these children's worlds now, whether they're on social media or consuming entertaining content or gaming. AI is plugged into all of it.
Laura: It really is, no, yes, it absolutely is. I, you know, my daughters are my kiddos are 12 and 10, and one of the ways that they interact with AI is through pictures. I love looking at photos of cute animals, you know, interesting things, and we, I mean, part of my job as a parent raising kids in this age is helping them determine, is this a real picture or is this possibly AI. That's a skill that they need, that they're gonna need going forward, and I'm kind of curious about. That way, like, again, like how we walk that balance of like these things are cool, they add to our lives and raise kids who can think, raise kids who can question and understand what's real and what's not, you know.
Marc: I do, Laura. I mean, for as a starting point, my recommendation to your audience, especially the parents listening, is start by telling your children that they should be skeptical about everything they're seeing as it relates to video, still photography, what they're reading, the news. No longer are we in a situation in society where you should trust everything that you see, notwithstanding the fact that you see it. Remember, like when I was young, when you were young. It was like seeing is believing, but that's not the case with artificial intelligence anymore. And I think it's important for parents to understand that and then to take it a little further and to set up those guardrails. We need to prove, authenticate what it is that we're looking at because that knowledge transfer, these, these children, you know, it doesn't matter how old they are, whether they're preteen or or teenagers or even older, even into their twenties, that knowledge transfer is important.
People tend to believe what they see and the technology has advanced so far forward in such a small period of time. We're just going so quick right now. The capabilities are exceptional. I talk about it in the book, but it becomes dangerous. It becomes risky. Misinformation, disinformation, poor information. We want to make sure that our children become, you know, the next generation of responsible adults with good values. And are intelligent also, and we run the risk of, you know, like when you talk about your children looking at cute little furry animals, artificial intelligence can create animals that are cute and furry, but aren't real. So, these are real issues and, and I'm concerned about it. I start with my family and my children, and it's in the book. Start from a place of being careful and let everybody know what you see. Might not be real.
Laura: Okay, so that kind of that coming from this place of skepticism and and starting there and just really questioning. Yeah, super valuable skill. I feel kind of curious, you know, so my kids are not in a traditional schooling situation. They go to a Waldorf school. There's no technology, no computers. They're using, you know, chalkboards and paint and stuff. It's very, you know, very analog, you know, yeah, if there is technology, they're like building it, you know, like they're like building trebuchets, you know, like that's technology for them. So they're having a different experience. In the classroom, but I am curious about what for folks who are in mainstream schools, what their kids are seeing. How is AI and some of these advancements already in the classroom? How are they benefiting education, and what are things that we parents should have an eye on just to kind of.
Marc: Well, first, I think people in your audience. are probably intimidated by the concept of using artificial intelligence, right? You're laughing.
Laura: I think that there's probably some who are hip and with it and see the benefits and like the fun aspects of it, and they're like really cool advancements. And then there are people who really believe in the value of a simple childhood and in trusting our human kind of developmental trajectory and that this is maybe moving faster than we can. You know, evolved to catch up with.
Marc: Correct. So I think it would be valuable for everyone in the audience to pick up a few tools and even with their children try using artificial intelligence, you know, for example, if you think about generative AI generative AI is essentially the creation of. New things. And it's a fun exercise. Like parents and their children can come together and learn through different tools, artificial intelligence tools to create beautiful images, could be photograph-like or animated, to create videos. They could create music together, poetry. That's a really good starting place to develop and create, right? Right? And I think that's a good way to start learning and understanding some of the pitfalls too.
When I talk about the risk, people might see all of a sudden why, you know, a zebra is striped with red and white versus black and white. They'll understand quickly. So I would recommend that the parents participate with their children. The other thing that AI gives access to is a particular type of knowledge base. And on this side of the equation, it's really simple for beginners to use search. So think in terms of Google, it's not really the best experience for everyone, but everybody uses it. It's a bad experience because really what they're doing is just advertising to us, right? Like it's so annoying, Laura, right? Like right now if you. You want to find like, you know, a great recipe or, you know, figure out, you know, advancements with regards to rocket ships, all of a sudden, like the 1st 5, 6, right, it's so annoying they're advertising right at us.
Well, what platforms like Chat GPT and Perplexity do is they create a very simple and easy search engine that's clean and a bigger text box to ask a bigger question. So you could sit around the table at dinner with your children and say like, you know, how was, how was America created? You know, why is there the Declaration of Independence or how many states are there? And literally in real time, like immediately. These AI generated, these AI, search engines will kick out an answer in real time, and it's remarkable. It's really super compelling, and I think that's a good thing for parents to do, a good tool for parents to get accustomed to as well. These are two really simple ways where families could start to test what AI is capable of and also to see firsthand, what might be, you know, let's say an information deficit versus something that's accurate, really simple.
Laura: We pick that out, you know, how would we find those things?
Marc: Well, you'll see it. You'll probably see the stories like what I don't want to get too techie today, but what generative AI does is essentially it's algebra, and it's predicting what the next piece of, let's say, an image might be. So if you and your two children want to come together and design. A photograph that is, you know, let's say, of a geography, a geography that your family recently visited, right? Like a beautiful beach or, you know, the mountainside or downtown New York City. You can, with just text, prompt the artificial intelligence to create that image, but it might come out inaccurate. So you might see, for example,downtown New York City looking like uptown New York City or maybe it looks like Chicago or Boston, so you'll see the problems right away and you can keep tweaking. And that's a good tool, not just to teach yourself, but to show your children you don't believe everything you're looking at. And those are like safe. I'm talking about real safety.
Laura: The argument that you can get into with GPT about how many Rs are in the strawberry. That was a fun thing to do with my kids. I don't know. Have you done that?
Marc: Did you, I to be honest with you, I have not done that with my children. I'm trying to keep them away from it. Yeah, especially the teenager.
Laura: Yeah, so tell me then how like if you're trying to keep them away from it, how do you do that? How do you teach them, these are the tools that you will hear your friends use, you know, thinking about using and how can you keep them, I don't know, safe from it. Without showing them the things.
Marc: So I told you, I mentioned our older son goes to a Quaker school here in New York City, and, he's in 10th grade and his history teacher said to us on back to school night, well, we don't really need to teach all of the lessons in substance because they're the kids are gonna be able to search and find data in a different way than we were capable of our generation. And I found that. You know, I take deference to that, Laura. I believe that a classical education provides the rudimentary foundation that individuals, young individuals can take with them for the rest of their life. There's no doubt about that. And that includes good solid lessons in math and science, in English, and literature. I think it's really critical. I'm sure your kids are experiencing that right now at, you know, the Waldorf School. It's incredible. So what happens is with the access to information, in the way that artificial intelligence provides now, it takes away, I think, a step in the learning process.
This is just my philosophy. It's one thing to access data, but it's another thing to understand the process in building the, like the cognizant, elements that play into, so that are oriented for education. So for example, if my 10th grader is challenged in science, it's not enough to just have the answer in my opinion. If you want to be a well rounded individual and you want to take that information and apply it to the rest of your life, you need to have not just the processes that you go through to come to the conclusion, but the building blocks that get you there. And what's great is. Some artificial intelligence now, even Grok just updated last night into Grok 3, and I think we're pushing towards, AGI in, in a minute. I actually think it's quicker. It's gonna be way quicker than anybody expects. They're showing what the processes are, the reasoning behind the conclusion, but most people won't take the time to look at it, right? Like I think it's, they just want to get to the end result. So for me, I think that it's important for parents to stay disciplined, don't be lazy and rely on artificial intelligence to teach you as a teaching tool for your children. Make sure that your children can create the building blocks that add to an intelligent human being. Does that make sense?
Laura: Yeah, absolutely. I think that it's, I think that I agree with you 100%, and I think that they are very tempting. Parts of AI that kids are gonna fall into. I think that they're gonna, you know, that they have. When the answers are right there, you know, like my husband's a college professor, and I mean he's an accounting professor and still, I mean, so lots of it is just math, but still he runs into AI generated, you know, long form answers and stuff.
Marc: It’s great for math right now. It’s a killer for math and science. It's killer.
Laura: Yeah, but but like that's the thing is that so one, what you're saying here is that we as the parents are responsible for developing within the child a moral code of ethics around around some of this, and a discipline within themselves, a hunger, a curiosity for understanding as opposed to getting the right answer. But we're in a, we're in an environment, and these kids are in an environment. Where we are judged and rewarded based on meeting certain benchmarks, having the right answer, you know, getting the grade on the test, you know, or, you know, the, the score on the test. And so there's this part of it too that is, I can see why this would be tempting, right? So there's a reason why professors and teachers are worried about seeing AI generated essays in their classrooms and you know, because it is tempting. We understand there's this human nature aspect of it, you know, so a 16 year old who has to, you know, write 3 papers by tomorrow, like, and now this technology is available in a way it was not when I was 16, you know, like I can see how it's tempting for sure.
Marc: And in some ways they should use it, but I have to tell you, like on the professor's side, I teach an MBA class at NYU Stern. And on that side of the equation, I've changed the way that I test my students. It's almost like going back to the days of stand and talk. Let's go through it together. It's obvious to me, my eye is trained. I know how artificial intelligence speaks. There's an addiction to it. There's no tool, by the way, I get into this in the book. There's no tool that is available for anybody to put a document. Into AI to determine whether or not it's AI generated. That doesn't exist, which is interesting. But, professors and including your husband, even like, they need to think about how they enhance the learning experience, how they improve it for their students, and part of it needs to be, you know, going back to written tests, also, verbal tests and beyond. It's important.
Laura: I mean, my, like, so my husband's perspective on this is that for the most part, when these accounting majors go out into the world and start working in the world of accounting, they will have access to this information. They will, they won't have, not need to memorize an entire book of tax code. They have access to it. They do not need to memorize the equations. They're going to put it into Excel, you know, and so his worldview is more I want to teach these kids how to think and how to use the tools that are at their disposal. And so there's a little bit of leaning into it, you know. But I, yeah, I guess I just, I'm thinking, not even about like the college kids necessarily, but the, the learning how to think, the learning how to take this information and be skeptical. And I don't, you know, I just, it's, it just seems tricky when It's so easy to to get an answer.
Marc: I totally agree, Laura, and as you know, the answers aren't always correct, but they're also devoid of major periods of time. So artificial intelligence, specifically large language models, LLM, are trained on a corpus of information that goes back across humankind. Books, reports, the internet, it goes pretty far and expansive. And remember, there were time periods, let's say in the United States of America, for example, where certain individuals like women weren't permitted to participate in being professors at universities and submitting their research. So in many ways, AI is innately sexist, biased, even racist, right by the fact that it's not including women's perspective because it wasn't trained on information, you know, from the 1950s, for example, when women were able to participate at that level. So it's, you know, there are risks there, in many ways for sure.
Laura: Yeah, Okay. And so I wanna, you know, one of the other things that I did want to just kind of broaden out, I feel like we honed in on AI. I think that there's a lot of other technologies that our kids are going to have access to that might be important for us as parents to understand. What are some of those?
Marc: So it's interesting that you mention that because what I do in the book is I talk about this triangle of emerging technology, and in a way it's kind of compelling because kids and families can create, let's say for example, they could start up new business ventures and they could use artifacts. Artificial intelligence to create new content, new designs. Imagine, for example, one of your daughter's dreams of being the next big fashion designer, and that's her goal. Well, they could use an AI tool to create a full collection of apparel and accessories, and then they can use social media to promote that entire collection of apparel and accessories.
And then finally, they could use cryptocurrency to receive payment. And that's really compelling. It allows for the individual, the dreamer, you know, that young girl at home who's dreaming of being the next Donna Karan, she could now access that technology and literally realize her dreams. She doesn't have to go to Parsons. She doesn't have to spend tons of money moving to New York City. She doesn't have to get that westernized education. She could dream and compete even with the bigger fashion houses right from her apartment anywhere in the world. Okay, so that's my triangle. AI, social media, cryptocurrency.
Laura: Okay. So talk to me a little bit about, it sounds like there's this, there's this positive side to this triangle, right, where there's access to information, there's maybe more equity in that access. What are some of the concerns that you have?
Marc: Oh my God, I have so many. I say that we're living. Let's talk about social media, for example. I say that we are living in the age of dumb. We have been trained since the 2015, 2016 time period when President Trump realized that he can influence an entire nation of people to vote for him through social media. We've been trained to live off of sound bites. It's okay to have roughly two sentences and a photo. Which might be real or might not be real, to communicate now, whether it's professionally or socially or in any way whatsoever. And we followed that all the way through. It's not just President Trump. We've seen it now with the Biden administration and in this, right, in the most recent campaign like Kamala also communicates that way.
But it's because society's dumbed down to that level. We're okay with that level of discourse. So we need to do the work. I think it's really important, Laura, when we think about social media, maybe it's fun for a certain purpose. I think X, for example, is phenomenal at being a resource for news. X is great with Grok. It provides us with incredible information right away. But what do I mean when we do the work? Long form matters. So let's access valid information, great stories, and great books. Take the time, do the work, eat the broccoli, get down into it and get all the facts straight. Don't just live off of sound bites. We as a culture need to create more respect for each other with the exchange of ideas and information. And we could do that by having a sound amount of knowledge beyond just an Instagram post or a TikTok post or an ex post.
Laura: Okay. So How is it? How can we create balance for our kids as they are moving into this realm of technology? So I mean, most of the families who are listening to this podcast are attempting to delay social media as long as possible for our kiddos. You know, like my kids' friends, none of them have cell phones. Definitely none of them have social media accounts. But they're around other kids who do, right? They're around other kids who are on TikTok. They know that those things exist. And there's this tension, I think, with, you know, even with me and with my husband that we want them to be literate. We want our kids to not miss out on these essential pieces of technology, and yet we're glad that they're protected from some of it too. I guess I just don't know how to help them as they start dipping toes in. Beyond just having lots of good conversations, right? So how can we help them? This generation, you're 16 years old. You know, what, what do they say? To grass more often, right? Isn't that the phrase that is popular right now, you know, and, but like, but really, they spend, what is the data 8 like 8, 6 to 8 hours a day on screens. That's a lot, that's a full time job.
Marc: Totally. I think it's more, to be honest with you. I think they're spending more than 12 hours a day on screens.
Laura: Well, if we're counting like the TV show that's on and the web browser that's open and the social media, the 3 devices that are happening right, you know, at the same time, yeah, you know.
Marc: It's interesting. The other thing that people forget about, Laura, is the idea of also being in touch with nature to find balance for oneself and to think a little. So with social media, these kids are bombarded, right? The algorithm is hitting them with a particular type of content in like 30 to 62nd intervals, and they're just bombarded. It's like information overflowing. Imagine, I always think of it. It's like taking water from a fire hose of content. It's just nonsensical, dumb content. But think about how nice it is when a child doesn't have a device and is able to walk across the soccer field in the mountains with the sun shining on her face, where for a little bit of time she could think and reflect and come to terms with what's happening in the world. That's very natural and healthy.
The experience that we had in our generation, but this generation, I fear they're not, they're not able to get that. So there are a couple of issues. There's poor content access, right? I think that's where you started the, the, this part of the conversation. But there's also about balancing and being healthy as a human being. On the former issue, let's talk about TikTok because it is the most popular social media vertical, hands down, right? TikTok is a social media app that's created by a company in China. It's my understanding, I don't know if your audience is aware, but it's my understanding that in China. Kids are not permitted to use TikTok at all, and in China, there is a time allotment of when they have to turn the children off. Have you heard this?
Laura: Yes, absolutely. They, you know, there is a version of TikTok that kids do have more access to in China, that is all educational content.
Marc: So what does that mean? I mean we know that the creators are doing that, right?
Laura: I mean, the most growing career aspirations in China right now are like astrophysicist, you know, engineer, right? And in the US, the most trending career aspiration is influencer on YouTuber.
Marc: I was hoping that that's the data.
Laura: I have been in some rooms where lots of people don't have access and that's the stated goal of TikTok.
Marc: Yeah. So, you know, it's like. I mean it's, it's good. I mean, I see the content on all of these platforms and you know, it's a, like I said, it's the dumbing down of America. We live in the age of dumb and there's bad stuff there. It influences people like it, you know, let's say for example, your children are watching TikTok and there are tons of provocative images on there. They're gonna think that's cool, a young girl. will be influenced by that. And unfortunately, it's up to the parents to explain why that's not appropriate behavior, right? There's like very inappropriate imagery and video coming out that just isn't great for a young girl. So it's up to the parents to put guardrails on social media. I genuinely don't think that social media is, you know, something that's needed for that next generation, for young people, they don't need it. So I think it's up to the parents. The fact that the maker of TikTok. Right is limited in its own country. It says so much, but yet we just keep chasing that shiny silver object, Laura. It's a mistake. We have to worry about our children.
Laura: It is, you know, I mean, it's not, I certainly don't want to bash all of the education that can happen there. Like I know that for so many communities, like the neurodivergent community is finding a lot of home and hope within hashtags like actually autistic, you know. There is a lot of great stuff that can come out of it. They're just being broader conversations in places that aren't normally happening. So there's definitely our positives and sometimes there's just lots of fun stuff on there too. Like my daughter and I like to watch videos of dogs with their talking buttons, you know, and we have to talk about how are they edited and isn't it interesting what ad came on after those, you know, so there is, there's, I think that it's kind of like both and thing, right?
Where so like this is not going away. They will go out into the world and have access to these things. And so, on the one hand, we have to protect them and keep them safe. And then on the other hand, we have to teach them how to interact, right? How to have boundaries with themselves, you know, and set them up for success for when, you know, just like. You know, like with food, for example, like we can make strive to make sure that our kids, you know, diet is as healthy as possible, but they're going to go to that birthday party, and there's going to be cake and there's gonna be things, you know, and so we need to make sure they also have opportunities to practice and play with those things, you know, and, and make mistakes when the mistakes are small and the stakes are small, you know.
Marc: I agree. Look, technology isn't always bad. I'm obviously someone that is into technology. I believe more. Yeah, I'm very into it. I'm a tech optimist. I believe that we should build more. I think artificial intelligence will propel humankind forward in many ways, specifically financial value, medical, food, food security, and beyond. Go back to education with AI for a second if you don't mind. Think in terms of socioeconomic access to education. Right now, if you go, I mentioned NYU, if you want to attend NYU Stern for one year, it's over $100,000. That's tons of money, right? That's super expensive. But right now, if you want to. most of that information, it's right here on a phone.
So there's a great equalizer happening globally, and I think that individuals who want to learn and they're curious and they could access artificial intelligence to develop a forward-looking vision. Maybe it's a business that they want to create, and then they could take it. AI a little further and learn how to implement that business and then in some cases, even let the AI run the business, it's going to give people a real advantage. So those perhaps who couldn't afford to spend $100,000 a year to go to New York City and learn, you know, at a top university like NYU now they can from wherever they are in the world, regardless of their socioeconomic background.
Laura: It makes me think too that part of our, you know, the, when I don't know about you, but when I was growing up like that you just the next step was you go to college and then you get a job or you go to grad school, like those were the the steps, and I think that that's going to change drastically too with this increased access to to the information that maybe has been in these. These silos, these academic silos, when it comes to thinking about our kids' futures, what are you going to be encouraging your kids to do?
Marc: Well, it's interesting that you mentioned where China is developing with regards to engineers. I think any kid that's going to college right now in America should be thinking in terms of engineering. That said, computer science and programming is totally changing. It's funny at my kids' school here in New York City, the 16 year old, they're learning programming, but all of programming is turning into literally, text words in English. No longer would you need to know how to program in Python, although I do think that, again, a foundation of knowledge will provide. Greater use of AI, so I'd like to see American kids get into the engineering space because I think that's where the business world is barreling forward, especially right now, right at this second in time.
But a lot of jobs, a lot of new jobs that we haven't thought of will be created because of artificial intelligence. I believe that. Job growth, again, I'm optimistic about it. I think there will be a lot of job growth. However, we'll see the elimination of a lot of jobs too. You mentioned your husband's industry before, academics and accounting, and let's be honest, like your husband is kind of hinting at the fact that artificial intelligence will provide great CPAs,some someday, probably in the near future. So, we're going to see a lot of those service-oriented industries transform in a major way.
Laura: That sounds a little, a little scary. I'm not gonna lie.
Marc: Oh my God, you want me to tell you something sad about psychiatry and psychology?
Laura: Sure, yes, go ahead.
Marc: Okay, I'll tell you two quick anecdotes. One, I have a friend of mine who is a major fundraiser in the political spectrum, and he told me that now when he and his wife have arguments, they go to ChatGPT. Have you heard this before?
Laura: I mean, yes, yeah, definitely, right?
Marc: And then I received a note from a woman who read my book last night, Total Stranger. She wrote me on Facebook and she basically said, how miserable she was, how, it sounded like, almost like suicidal. And she took my advice and started communicating in these dark moments with, ChatGPT. She gives it a name and calls herself something, and they have this ongoing conversation. And she told me, she disclosed that it's better than any psychologist or psychiatrist that she's ever seen. And that she's actually happy because of it. So think about that. That's literally algebra. It's a machine learning platform. There's no human back there, and she feels better about interacting with GPT. Yeah, it's incredible. So it's scary, right?
Laura: And she's not alone too though, that's something that I have heard from clients who, you know, older kids, you know, talk to chat with GPT in that way. GPT helped me write an email to my dad when I was triggered by a situation, and I was not able to express my compassion for him. You know, you can get very specific prompts. I edited it, of course, and made it mine, but it was really helpful in setting a boundary that needed to be set in a way that was respectful and kind and loving to him.
Marc: That's great.
Laura: Yeah, you know, and so I mean, I think that there's a variety of ways that we can use these things. I don't know. So a colleague and I recorded a podcast episode with a listener last year where we had listeners sending questions, parenting related questions, and then the listener put them into ChatGPT and the the answers that it gave back were good. They were reasonable, but they also lacked a certain I don't know.
Marc: I get into that. There's a whole section because I struggled with that issue, machine versus human, right? And where I come out is ultimately humans win all day long because we are compassionate. We understand what we need, right? Machines aren't enough. So I talk about that in my book, the idea of, you know. Generative AI platform could create a revolutionary song for freedom, but nobody could beat Bob Dylan at it because he has his finger on the pulse of society, right? At the end of the day, we know what we need. You understand love and compassion and growth and all of these things. The computer doesn't. And algorithms. One of them doesn't. Machines don't. And that's, they could, they could come off like they do, and they do that really well. But at the end of the day, they're not going to be able to have that little part of humanity, which I think is ultimately super important.
Laura: Okay, so Marc, I feel like the take home message that I'm getting from you on this then is for, for all of us is that these things are tools. They're meant to enhance our lives, and we get to decide how we use them and when we use them, to do so.
Marc: I often give speeches where I say that artificial intelligence is a tool, not a crutch, and since it's early on in the process, we should use this tool and develop the tool as if it's a child. We need to be responsible. We need to be caring. We need to be balanced, and if we do that, this tool can rock it, could propel your entire career, your family and your community in a major way.
Laura: I like that. I like that a lot. Thank you, Marc. I think that this is a topic that can be, you know, just a little off-putting for parents and a little scary to think about the world that our kids are going to go into. It's good to have a conversation around the, just the idea that, hey, we were, we grew up in a time where we learn some really important skills, and those skills are still things that our kids are going to need to know, maybe even more important, you know, how to be discerning consumers and all of those things. Those are still really important skills.
Marc: Absolutely. Yeah.
Laura: Thank you, Marc. I just want to make sure, you know, the listeners know where to go to find you and learn more from you.
Marc: Sure. So, thank you for that. By the way, I appreciate it. So I'm on all social media platforms, contrary to me knocking it before. So it's @markbeckman, M A R C B E C K M A N. I have a great show on Spotify, YouTube, and Apple called Some Future Day. So if you're into this sort of a thing where technology meets culture. Definitely tune in and check it out. And then finally, the book, Some Future Day: How AI is Going to Change Everything, is available at Amazon, Target, Barnes and Noble, all major booksellers now.
Laura: Yeah, I found the book really interesting just for a person who's kind of unplugged. Just to just know what's out there and what's happening. Like for me, that's where I was coming from because I, we live a pretty simple life in our house for the most part, and it was, it's good to know what you know, what's out there.
Marc: That's awesome, yeah, I appreciate it. Thank you so much. I appreciate your time. It's great to meet you.
Laura: Oh, you know, we're so glad that you came here to talk with us. Thank you.
Okay, so thanks for listening today. Remember to subscribe to the podcast and if it was helpful, leave me a review that really helps others find the podcast and join us in this really important work of creating a parenthood that we don't have to escape from and creating a childhood for our kids that they don't have to recover from.
And if you're listening, grab a screenshot and tag me on Instagram so that I can give you a shout out um and definitely go follow me on Instagram. I'm @laurafroyenphd. That's where you can get behind the scenes. Look at what balanced, conscious parenting looks like in action with my family and plus I share a lot of other, really great resources there too.
All right. That's it for me today. I hope that you keep taking really good care of your kids and your family and each other and most importantly of yourself. And just to remember, balance is a verb and you're already doing it. You've got this!