An early October batch of links
Since the most recent batch of links went out, paying subscribers received encouragement about permissions, then a reflection about old friends. This coming weekend, they’ll receive a meditation on who I am here for.
Below, you’ll find a batch of links that represent the themes of this newsletter: career development, community building, and self care.
Students Paid Thousands for a Caltech Boot Camp. Caltech Didn’t Teach It. I’ve known for quite a while that these boot camps and continuing education services were baloney, as they sell people looking to transition mid-career on the dream that a little bit of work will lead to bigger results. It’s predatory. Maybe not all of them, but enough of them.
The Big Shift From Salaries to Bonus-Based Pay.
The Black Church Has a Gen-Z Issue: ‘They Don’t Come Into the Building Anymore’.
Though many houses of worship across America are struggling with falling membership, the singular standing of the Black church means that its declining numbers have far-reaching consequences for social cohesion and Black political power writ large.
The Elite College Students Who Can’t Read Books. Although this is disheartening, it’s not all that surprising. I couldn’t do all of the reading assigned to me in college, and I was not at an elite university. I can’t say that the goal is to overwhelm, but I must say that colleges are going to have to come up with alternative means and methods to get the new crop of students to master the material.
You’re not upper class in America until you’ve reached this coveted status.
Amazon ends remote work. Will other firms follow? Yet another future of work expert who is framing RTO the wrong way. It’s not a punishment to force people out of the company, it’s a choice some companies have made to improve the business. If someone wishes to leave over the policy change, they’re entitled to, but the concern that the company will fall apart with those workers gone is vastly overstated because the number of people who will is smaller in comparison to what has been projected.
Surveillance Parents Face the Ultimate Firewall: Freshman Year.
Who will follow Amazon back into the office?
The experts I spoke with agreed on one sensible recommendation for CEOs: Embrace hybrid work and let managers decide which days the whole team should be in the office. What frustrates employees is when they trek into the office only to sit at a computer when they could have done the same at home. People want to come in for meetings, special collaborations and networking. The research on hybrid working underscores how important it is to use people’s time wisely.
Money Talks: It’s Time to Work Less.
Life After (Weight) Loss. I don’t think (some) people realize what forever means, and what might happen if they decide after a few, say, years to give up the routine and to retreat back to old habits. These drugs popped onto the scene quickly, and it still requires more foresight before getting started with them.
Has Social Media Fuelled a Teen-Suicide Crisis?
Digital overload: Why women are doing a hidden form of work.
Simple solutions could be to include the dads in local chat groups, to encourage them to organise more playdates – including all the communication involved – and to ensure we share the technological burden of the numerous school emails, homework tasks and club admin. The more we share in all aspects of the domestic sphere, the more this burden of the technical load will be shared too.
Shh, ChatGPT. That’s a Secret. “These conversational interfaces might encourage users to reveal more about their nutrition or fitness goals than they otherwise would. Instead of companies inferring information about users from messy data trails, users are telling them their secrets outright.” I think we just got used to typing into the box and sharing what’s on our minds, and where our needs are, and dealing with whatever tradeoffs come with that because it’s easier not to fret.