06/24/2026
We are all encouraging our kids (and grandkids) to get out and Connect. It’s equally important for those of us 40+. If you haven’t been out in awhile beyond work or the grocery store those skills atrophy.
Connection keeps you healthy and alive. Loneliness is an epidemic.
Join our free call on Zoom Mondays at 7 pm. Meeting ID 851 3971 0758.
This is an essential life skill. And the research is compelling that having people keeps you alive as we age.
Consider coming to something. We can help.
Esther Wojcicki is known as the Godmother of Silicon Valley. She's also the mother of YouTube's former CEO and the co-founder of 23andMe. When asked whether parents should still push for college in the AI era, her answer was immediate.
Yes — and not for the reason most people argue.
"College is an opportunity for you to hone your interaction with other human beings," she said. "If you don't interact with other people, you aren't going to get those skills. You're never going to be able to substitute college with an AI education."
Her argument isn't about credentials or career pipelines. It's about the interpersonal development that happens between 18 and 22 — navigating conflict, building relationships, learning to collaborate across difference — and the fact that no online course or AI tutor can replicate the context in which that growth happens.
The data holds up. A 2025 Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis analysis found that workers with only a high school diploma faced unemployment rates at least 2.3% higher than college graduates — a gap that persisted through the AI era. Leading economists similarly find that college continues to open doors to more adaptable, higher-paying roles.
Meanwhile, McKinsey identifies the skills most valuable in an AI economy as critical thinking, communication, judgment and collaboration — harder to automate and increasingly prioritized by employers over narrow technical skills.
Mark Cuban puts it simply: "Going to school isn't about your major — at least not in the first two years. It's about learning how to learn and exposing yourself to all kinds of different people and ideas."
The degree matters. What it builds matters more.
