HealthyGamerGG - Dear Class of 2022

Episode Date: May 24, 2022

Today Dr. K talks about the world, graduating, chasing your dreams, personal responsibility, and more! Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/healthygamergg/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Inflation has gotten worse, homes have gotten more expensive, education has gotten more expensive, and people have started to get paid relatively less. We're seeing higher rates of diagnosis of ADHD, of autism spectrum disorder, more people are dying of opioid overdoses than they ever have in the history of the world. And so the formula for success has changed. In fact, there is no formula for success. And that's the hard lesson that we've had to learn. It's the generation of hard work and family values and all these things. other things that they claim of good stewardship that has created the world that we're born into. And now we've grown up in this world and we're graduating today. So now it's our responsibility. And I say thank God for that. Because if there's one generation who can fix this problem, it's actually

y'all. So welcome everyone. And thank you for inviting me to be your commencement speaker for the graduation of the class of 2022. Now this may seem a little bit strange because, maybe you're listening to this commencement speech and you're not actually graduating. But that's okay. And maybe this is a little bit strange because you are graduating, but you already had a different commencement speaker. And that's okay too. Because if you're a part of the class of 2022, it's time to recognize that it's time to start doing things our way. Because the old ways haven't really worked for us.

Because let's be honest, the world is kind of going to shit, right? If we look around, what we see are all kinds of problems. So it can start with even the most basic things, like the environment, we have global warming, we have trawling going on in our oceans, you know, the wealth inequality is increasing, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Even things like the information age, which we had sort of ushered in this like information age, which is the advent of technology, is now becoming the misinformation age. So so many things that we've relied on,

have started to kind of go to hell, right? So much of what we've relied on is, like, not really working for us anymore. So despite advances in health care, we've had a global pandemic over the last two years that has crippled, taken people's lives, crippled our economies, really questioned the way that we do things, and has left our mental health in shambles as well. And so, like, stuff just isn't working anymore, right? Like, the economy is broke, the climate is broke, broke. Even politics are getting worse and worse.

So, like, we are seeing an increased amount of polarization where politicians are, like, not even representing the interests of the people anymore. And so, like, everything seems to kind of be going to hell. And so this is where normally what we used to do is we used to rely on institutions, right? So if we look at something like the environment, who was responsible for that? it's like some institution was responsible for that. Maybe a government or here in the United States, we have the Environmental Protection Agency. They were kind of responsible for that.

And in terms of like how to manage this kind of stuff, we used to trust institutions like schools, right? Because schools were supposed to teach us how to do things. That's what we go to school for. But schools are no longer a place of learning. They've become assembly lines at best or at worst, butcher. shops, right? Where people go in, they go in bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, and you have administrators and legal fees and all these kinds of educational tuition fees and stuff like that, where you graduate four years later with a piece of paper and saddled with hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt.

And so our institutions aren't really working for us the way that they used to. You know, there used to be a formula for life that we could kind of like follow. And this is a sort of what the generation before us had. The generation before us, you know, who spoke a lot about hard work and, you know, a respect for each other and sort of like putting in your dues, I think took for granted how much they had given to them. When they inherited the world, the climate was great. When they inherited a world, it was like an age of prosperity. When they inherited the world, it was sort of like things were easy. You could just get a job after going to college. and then you could support an entire family on a single income.

But what's happened since that is that inflation has gotten worse. Homes have gotten more expensive. Education has gotten more expensive, and people have started to get paid relatively less. And so it's like very easy for the generation above us to kind of say like, you know, this is what you should do to succeed. And they laid out all these formulas for us. And those formulas were successful in their day. But what we've seen time and time again is the formulas of the past don't really work for the present.

And this is the challenge that the class of 22 faces, which is what are y'all supposed to do? Right? Like, what are we supposed to do now? Because the formulas of the past don't really work. In a world where, you know, with the birth of democracy, we had this idea that people could sort of cast their vote and have a voice in what happens in their life. But as we've seen all over the world, despite the fact that we have democratic nations all over the place, the opinions and the voice of the individual person has started to matter less and less and less. And so we're seeing a failure of our institutions. We're seeing a failure of schools to educate, a failure of government to represent the interests of the people. We're even seeing a failure in the realms of scientific advancement.

So now what used to happen is that schools and colleges and academic institutions used to be the birthplace of innovation. That's where most of the research was done and where, like, you know, people made discoveries. But now what we're seeing is that innovation is in the hands of business. So we're seeing an explosion of technology and social media. And academia is actually kind of slow to keep up, right? And so what we're starting to see is that we've, the formula that we've, the formula that we, we've been taught is based on a set of assumptions that the generation above us had. The generation above us had this assumption that if you go to college and you get a job and you

save diligently and you invest in the stock market, that you'll be okay in life, right? They gave us the formula to be okay. The problem is that that formula relies on certain assumptions, which no longer compute. This is no longer the day that you can just get a, like, you know, get a college degree. And I know this sounds kind of despairing because some of y'all are graduating from college. Some of y'all are about to go to college. And so, like, why are we talking about this? Because I think it's important to understand that the world that you're walking into is the class of 2022 is a little bit different from the world of the past.

And so the formula for success has changed. In fact, there is no formula for success. And that's the hard lesson that we've had to learn. which is that if you assume that if I do A, B, and C, I will end up okay, right? In a world of online dating, they used to sort of say like, okay, like take care of yourself, prioritize yourself, groom yourself, get into shape a little bit, learn how to cook. If you do all of these things and you're a decent human being, you'll be okay. But that's not what the world gets us, right?

Because when you match with someone on an online dating app, half of the times it's a bot. And the other half of times it's someone directing you to a different web, where you can pay for certain kinds of content. And that's what's happened. The rules of the game have changed. And so how do you manage this if you're part of the graduating class of 2022, right? Like here's Dr. Kaye, like talking to you about cynicism and despair. And like, what do we do about this, right?

Because the formulas of the past no longer seem to work. And so it's no surprise that mental health is at an all-time low. Because it is. So we sort of know this, that during the pandemic, depression and anxiety got 300% worse. Like literally, 300% worse. We're seeing higher rates of diagnosis of ADHD, of autism spectrum disorder. More people are dying of opioid overdoses than they ever have in the history of the world. More people are incarcerated for marijuana than they have been in the past.

Right. So so many things are working against us. Like, we're inheriting a world. That's fundamentally broken. And so what's the natural idea here? You know, like, what do we do? How do we kind of deal with this? Because like, this is what we're getting, right?

So the class of 2022, what's the world that you're stepping into? You're now an adult and you're stepping into a world where the climate is going to hell. The economy is busted. You may be on the brink of financial ruin. Maybe you're sad. Maybe you're despairing. Seems like absolute crap, right? Well, here's the good news, class of 2022.

If there is a generation that is equipped to deal with this, it's actually y'all. Because y'all are the generation of misfits. Y'all are the generation of meme lords. Y'all are the generation that adopted your diamond hands, held on the GME, and now Melvin Capital is going out of business. y'all are the generation that has actually said a great big f you to the world. Y'all are the only generation that can actually fix these problems. Because the generation of the past that grew up when the world was young and there were

plenty of natural resources to go around and the world was not quite as crowded as it was now, where you could kind of like slide through things and kind of be okay, that generation couldn't do it. In fact, it's because of their, the way that they've shepherded. the world that we inherit this thing that they've given us, right? It's the generation of hard work and family values and all these other things that they claim of good stewardship that has created the world that we're born into. And now we've grown up in this world and we're graduating today, so now it's our responsibility. And I say, thank God for that. Because if there's one generation

who can fix this problem, it's actually y'all. Because y'all are the generation of misfits and meme lords. And when it comes to combating despair, the meme lords are the ones who will lead us to victory. So this is where, you know, I know it sounds kind of weird, but I think we can actually do this. Because things are actually a little bit different from what we expected. We're the generation for whom we were given a formula that doesn't work. And that's actually totally fine because in order to fix this world, it's not going to be following a formula. It's going to be innovation. It's going to be creativity.

And we're the generation that has the highest number of entrepreneurs, the most content creators. You can be an artist and get your music on SoundCloud. You can be an author and you can get published on Amazon. You can be a solo developer and get a game published on Steam. So this is the one time in the world where the barriers that have restrained our individual abilities and creativity are actually at an all-time low. We are literally no longer restrained by geography. We're the first generation of people who is literally not restrained by the concept of space.

You can now make a friend across the globe. You can now work in a completely different state or country, for that matter. We're not restrained. Our options for communication are unparalleled. Our options for connection are unparalleled. even the resources that we have at our fingertips are now like completely mind-boggling. So you can pay for a PhD education or you can watch some PhD mathematician from India's YouTube channel and get the same damn thing. There is a PhD education at your fingertips.

You can learn how to code. You can learn how to cook. You can even learn how to build like brick houses. And all of this information is at your fingertips. We have resources like Conacableness. which will outperform any teacher that you actually have who's burnt out and ground to dust in a system that does not allow them to be educators. Right?

So the world is kind of going to hell. But we have an unprecedented amount of power and information at our fingertips. The challenge is that in the past, we've always been told that the road to success is to do A, B, C, and D, right? the formula we were given is essentially quest markers for life. And if you played video games nowadays, you know that they hold your hand, right? They lead you. Okay, here's the first exclamation point. Go there, then go there, then go there, then go there.

And then the quest is finished and you get your reward. That's what the generation above us had. We don't have that anymore. We're now playing in an open world sandbox game, where you can go wherever you want to and you can do whatever you want to. You can learn quantum mechanics online, or you can sit there and write erotic dinosaur space fanfiction if you care to. You can do anything that you want to in this world in a way that human beings have never been able to do. And that's kind of mind-boggling. And it's actually like devastating.

Because how do we manage this, right? Because in the past, this is the subtle thing that we need to understand if you're part of the class of 2022, which is that we've grown up. with the assumption that a formula works. But if you really want to take advantage of the world that we live in, if you really want to succeed in the world that we live in, then you can't follow a formula. You have to find your own way in life. And the good news is that you have so many resources at your disposal that you may actually be able to solve the world's problems. In my own small way, it's probably insignificant in the grand scheme of things, I showed up on Twitch. And I was like, you know what?

Maybe I can help some people with their mental health. This is something that even now, most of my colleagues don't really understand what I'm doing, right? People will even criticize it. We'll see, was Dr. K doing something good or is Dr. K doing something bad? The point is, I've been able to do it now in a way that has not been possible. And so if I can have such a small impact on mental health, imagine what you're capable of, right? Because you could create the book that inspires people to fix the environment. You could make the game that keeps someone from committing suicide.

You could develop the API that fosters connection and allows people to no longer feel lonely and alone in a day and age where we're struggling with diseases of disconnection. right? So you could create the song that inspires someone else to go and do something amazing. You can do actually all of these things. But it's really easy to fall into despair, right? It's really easy to look into the future and say, like, we don't know what's going to happen. It's really easy to look into the future and actually say that the sand and the hourglass is running out. Like, literally, our planet could very well be dying. It may be. It may be. not be able to sustain life anymore in 50 years, 100 years, 200 years. This is a fear. The sand and the hourglass is running out. And so that should drive us into panic and it generally does. But this is where

once again, if I have faith in a single generation to fix this problem, it's y'all. Because even though the sand and the hourglass is running out, we're a generation of serial procrastinators. And we work our best when, you know, the deadline is tomorrow. And so this is the problem. is that, like, if the sand in the hourglass is running out, like, we're the ones that I want to be in the helm. Because if someone can do it, it's this state of last minute panic, which y'all thrive in, which is actually going to be what saves this place. And this is a generation that doesn't want to play by the rules, which is actually fantastic because the game is rigged. Right? So we are actually what the world needs.

We're exactly what the world needs. but it's hard to not give in to despair. So I'd love to share with you all a couple of very practical tips about how to move forward. The first is, take care of yourself because the world has shown us that they're not going to take care of you.

And it's really sad and we can kind of talk and we can go, oh, it's so sad. But the truth is you've got to take care of yourself because it's unclear that anyone else actually will. And it's a devastating responsibility and it's heartbreaking, but it's the absolute truth. So take care of yourselves. Whether that means seeking mental health support,

whether that means looking out for your own financial future, whether that means setting limits on a boss or a family member, whatever boundaries you need to draw to take care of yourself is something that you should absolutely do. The second thing that you need to be careful about or the second piece of advice that I'd give you is don't give in to despair and don't give in to cynicism. We live in a world now where technology actually propagates the most emotionally despairing content.

The most devastating stuff in the world is what gets filtered to the top of our newsfeed. Right? Either that or memes. And so be super careful about what kind of personal environmentalism you practice. Where is your despair coming from? What do you actually consume on a daily basis? We've known for a long time about the benefits of like a healthy diet, but what about a healthy mental diet? So be very careful about what you consume on a day-to-day basis.

It can be very, very tempting to go down the rabbit hole of an echo chamber. It can be very, very tempting to go to the radical portions, the dark portions of the internet where everyone agrees with what you agree with. But the good news is that this generation is the most skeptical, right? we have no respect for the generation above us. May have worked for you. Okay, Boomer. So trust in that piece of yourself.

And don't let yourself be a victim to all of the influences of social media. So be very, very careful about what you consume on a daily basis. Because if you aren't, the road to despair is something that you're going to have, you know, a one-way ticket down. So be very careful about how you spend your time, who you spend your time with. and what kind of media you consume. The third thing to think a little bit about is that if you believe in something in this world, run with it. So this is where this is a generation that I've seen that it's actually dreamed the biggest

because we've seen that success is actually possible, right? There are kids that grew up watching video games and have said that I want to play this video game as a career. And that's actually possible. We have people who have wanted to write books and have sat down and actually written books and published them and become best-selling author. We even have, you know, different kinds of musical artists that stream on Twitch that started small and blew up. So dream big, class of 2022, because this is the one chance that you're going to have. This is the one generation that is going to have the most, the best actual options of letting your dream come true.

And this is something that's very easy to not realize when we look to things like social media and stuff like that, and we see like signs of despair and ruin everywhere. The problem is that the successes rarely rise to the top. But it's my firm belief that you should first and foremost dream big. Because things that you'll be capable of in this world, like you have no idea. We have single people who have made video games, right? Like from start to finish, the graphics, the music, the level. design, everything has been made by a single person. You now have tools at your fingertips to

drag and drop RPGs, right? There's RPG maker, and you can just like literally make an RPG. So there's so much stuff at your disposal that if you're not careful about what influences you have on your mind will lead you to despair. But this is the most creative generation ever. This is the generation that actually has the option for a creative outlet to affect to the rest of the world. And the last thing that I'd say is don't give up your personal responsibility. So this is where

if we listen to the voice of despair, it manifests in a couple of different ways. It puts on a few different masks. So the voice of despair will say things like it's not enough. Or it'll say things like it won't matter. Or it'll say things like don't bother.

But be very, very careful about that voice of despair. Because if you give in to that voice, it'll become a self-fulfilling prophecy. And the world has become the way that it has because people have given up on stewardship. Right? They've said, someone else is going to fix it.

Oh, it doesn't matter. Someone else will fix it. We'll figure something out. We'll develop some new technology to fight climate change. You know, other people, oh, the government will take care of them if we sort of like gamble their pension money away. It's a lack of stewardship that has, got us into this problem. And this is when when the human mind sees a problem of catastrophic size,

it automatically says, don't bother, or it won't be enough. But this is the truth of the matter, is that no snowflake believes it's responsible for the avalanche, right? It's a handful of posts on Wall Street bets in which someone said, someone is short selling GameStop, and I'm going to buy it. and I think I should hold it. And then other people join in, and they buy, and they hold. And suddenly, like, this is a thing. Someone showed up one day and is like, I'm going to stream a video game. And then someone else started doing it.

And then someone else started doing it. And now, and then Twitch was born. And someone was like, I really like playing video games. I'm going to compete. I'm going to be the best gamer in this sport in the world. And then someone else said the same thing. And a third person said it and a fourth person said it. And thus was e-sports born.

So don't underestimate what you're actually capable of. Don't underestimate what the power of personal stewardship can accomplish. So you can look at a problem like climate change and you can say, I can't fix that. It's that kind of attitude that has gotten into this mess in the first place. You may not be able to fix climate change, but you know what you can absolutely do is plant a tree. You know what you can absolutely do is post that on social media. hashtag plant a tree. Right?

You may look to the world and you may say, oh my God, mental health is at an all-time low. Suicidal thinking is at an all-time high. Depression has gotten worse. Anxiety has gotten worse. Oh, my God. Everything is so full of despair. And you can actually support someone around you. You can have a conversation on Discord.

You can talk to a friend. you can support someone, right? You can respond to someone's cry for help in this empty, empty, barren wasteland known as the internet. And you'd be amazed at what you're capable of. So part of the problem is that we're all confused by this bias of big problems with big solutions.

Because what do we see? What floats to the top of our news feeds and our social media feeds? This person has been planting trees for 28 years and has planted 10,000 trees. And you look at that and you say, I can't do that. I'm lazy.

I can't plant 10,000 trees. So don't even bother planting a single one. So don't underestimate what you're capable of. Because at the end of the day in this world, there's only one thing that you can control. And there's only one thing that you are ultimately responsible for. And that's yourself. And it's because we're a generation who has been led to believe

that we are insignificant. We've been led to believe. that our voice doesn't matter. We've been led to believe that the deck has stacked against us. And the moment that we accept that, the moment that we believe that the deck is stacked against us,

and there's no point in trying. That's the moment at which we lose the battle. That's the moment that we lose the war. So don't give up, despite all the negative stuff, because this is seriously, like this is an unprecedented time

in humanity, where geography is no longer a thing, not a big deal, right? You can move to a different part of the country, find a small place to live, and work remotely. Like, that's pretty cool. You can write books. You can create music. You can do all kinds of things. You can learn how to code on the internet. You can learn how to cook on the internet. You can learn how to do so many things. So many people learn to play instruments and learn to bake bread during the pandemic. So don't give up on yourself. Because ultimately, that's going to be what results in the world going to hell.

So, at the end of the day, there's a lot wrong with the world, right? The economy is a mess. We're seeing unprecedented levels of inflation. You've got some guy in a tux talking to you in 2022 giving you a commencement speech, even though you may have never invited him to do that. The world is a weird place. Right? Health care is all screwed up.

We're seeing wealth inequality. we're seeing polarization of like political views. No one actually like cares to talk about politics anymore. It's just slamming each other on Twitter time and time and time again. The climate is going to hell. The economy is going to hell. Politics is going to hell. Even gaming is going to hell.

Have you all seen micro transactions? My goodness. Who's going to fix this stuff? The answer is you. You're the only one who can. And like, why do I believe that? You all already, the mental health is so bad. kids don't want to work nowadays. You're damn right. It's because kids don't want to work that

they'll find the most efficient solutions. It's the laziest generation. Yeah, that's who I'm going to put my money on. Because if this is the laziest generation, the hardest working generation is the one that got us here. So laziness is going to be our way forward. You don't want to work 40 hours a week? Fantastic. Figure out how to fix the world in 20. So you're the generation. That's going to do it. You're the generation that's the most skeptical. You don't accept things that are told to you. You don't accept the formula. We've even sort of, you know, stepped away from religion, which terrifies a lot of people. Because we've learned how to think for ourselves. So that's good because, like, them thinking for us is not working, right? We're a generation that is so sad. And thank God, we have memes, because memes are

going to be the only thing that we can use to fight cynicism and despair. We have ways of communication. and the last and certainly not least is time is running out. But we are at our best when we procrastinate. So the world is going in the wrong direction. And who can turn it around? Y'all can, class of 2022. So congratulations. And now it's time to get to work.

Thank you very much.