Dear Teenager

When I ask you what you learned in school today, do not say "nothing".  AND, definitely, don't say "school is boring" "why do I need _____ (fill in the blank with language arts or science, or social studies or history or math or whatever thing you think you should never have to learn about).  AND ABSOLUTELY DON'T SAY,  "I don't need to learn that crap because I'm going to be rich and famous (or a professional athlete, a famous entertainer, or a internet  sensation).

Yes, you learned to use a Smart Phone before you were potty trained, but you couldn't read and were possibly still being breastfed.  You could take a selfie and add filters by kindergarten, but couldn't spell kindergarten. You can find a how-to on any subject on YouTube and have been making cupcakes, houses, cities, worlds and avatars for years now.

BUT.

Can you do anything without an app for that?

You are almost grown.
Smart Cars are not yet here, almost, but not completely.
Cooking food can be learned from a video, but watching a farming video will not provide the ingredients.  Simulated building tools do not let you know how to build a square corner to make a table or a box or a house.  Sometimes you have to fasten things together with more than a click of a mouse or the tap of a screen.

So.  If the world is unplugged.  If the civilization you were born in to, with its amazing gadgets and apps and instantly available entertainment were to suddenly disappear---what would you do?

Would you complain about "nothing to do", "I'm bored", "it's not fair?"

To use tools that you do not understand; not how they are made, not how their parts work, not their history, just how to push the on button and use it, means that when it breaks, you are dependent on someone left that understands all those things.

If there are only books, you need to be able to read and read well.  If you would rebuild the unplugged world well enough and quickly enough to survive, you must know how to follow directions from a book as those videos you love are not working.
So.
Could you eat?  Could you eat after everyone has eaten everything out of the stores?  Could you stay warm without burning down your own shelter?  Could you repair the place you have to live, or do you just go hunt a cave.

And, NO, the internet would not help if you had a solar battery charger.  The internet is not eternal.  You want that decidedly embarrassing photo you posted to go away, no power grid would do it.  Without those people that actually understand how the systems work, it will disintegrate.

I'm old.  I bought my first computer at 32, my first smartphone at 50.  I have never taken a selfie.  I don't know how to edit a YouTube video.  But I can read a blueprint.  I know how to use a square in carpentry and can hand a hammer, screwdriver, and saw.  I know how to fix a leaking pipe or reseal a toilet.  I can grow, preserve, and cook fresh fruit and vegetables starting with nothing but a hoe, dirt, and seed.  I know why you don't make rows going down the side of a slope.  I know not to get water from lower than the septic system.  I know to boil water, and how to distill water.  I know first aid.  Most of that stuff is boring---but it isn't "nothing".

"Nothing" is an app with no power.

Your smart phone should not be the smartest thing about you.  Right now, the world is pretty easy for a lot of people. But there are still people without smart phones and tablets and laptops.  Some of them still have a flip phone.  Some of them have a land line.  Some of them don't have any phone or even a bed to sleep in.

Life isn't fair.

You are not guaranteed a lifelong WiFi connection or a smartphone or even a bed in this country.

Right now, you are guaranteed an opportunity to get an education, and while it doesn't contain some stuff it should, like first aid, cooking, cleaning, clothing care, basic life skills, personal finance, and even a little home repair, it does have the basics, reading, writing, (no longer cursive, but at least writing with both a keyboard and a pencil.)  It covers social studies, both maps and graphs, history, at least some of it, political science, basic sciences, and all the math you can take in.  And yes, you need math.  Life may give you a calculator, but it doesn't tell you how to find out how big a rug you need or how to double a recipe or whether you are going to run out of gas before you reach your destination unless you actually understand what you need to do to those numbers to answer the question.

Your education may not be entertaining.  Your teacher, a real human, may not be fun or or even nice.  I guarantee, if I heard nothing but "I'm bored, this is boring, I don't need to know this--I'm going to be a rock star, (or worse) if I ever need to know this, I'll google it" at least 6 times a day, I would be cranky, too.  And you guys are no  joy to be around, eye rolling, shoulder shrugging, sarcastic, or worse, obviously fake respect then giggling with your buddies.

Right now, a lot of you guys are upset about a shelter in place order.
You have your phones. But now, no hanging out, no hating your classes, teachers, getting up in the morning.

It could be worse.
It can always be worse.
Stay well, go learn something that isn't on a smartphone.

Now, I just need someone to turn this into a YouTube video so you can actually hear me.