We grow up in a different world than the one our children will inherit.

So how do we relate to one another when our lives are so different?

The technological and cultural gap between me and my parents is wide. The friction and difficulty of understanding one another is inevitable.

And how much more will it be with children born into the age of AI?

Since ChatGPT arrived two years ago, the whole way I interact with the world has changed. I use the tool daily — as a thought partner, planner, editor, coding assistant, and jester. The damn thing does it all.

Different news feeds are now showing humanoid robots, stunning deepfakes, and all sorts of images that seemed impossible just a decade ago. I hate to admit it, but I'm having trouble keeping up with this bewildering rate of change.

Watching my own habits evolve in real time makes me wonder — if it's this overwhelming for me, what kind of world will kids grow up in?

So I play the thought experiment: if I had kids today, how would I parent them? We're not just talking iPads and screentime restrictions now. What about restrictions around LLMs, social media, and apps like Snapchat or WhatsApp? These technologies have profound impacts on the ways we think and our ability to focus — they are not all bad, but it takes wisdom and discernment to use them for our benefit.

Like any tool, its use can help or harm. A hammer can build a house or break a window.

As a not-yet-parent, here's my thought on how to treat these technologies: limit unmonitored usage until it becomes necessary. We can limit their access to these dopamine-driven devices through measured, intentional use. Do our best to walk the line between protecting their focus and not isolating them from the tools their peers use to connect.

With everything changing around us, perhaps the best question to ask is "what will remain the same"? What won't change?

Perhaps the best way to parent through change is to anchor in what doesn’t change — to raise kids from first principles: what makes us human, what connects us, what keeps us grounded. My bet is that spiritual and community practices will remain regardless of technological changes. We’ll still gather over food. Meditation will still be one of the best ancient technologies for awareness.

Who knows what the future will hold. But maybe the future belongs to those who remember what doesn’t change.