I Am Falling Behind. Why?

Hello👋🏼

I wrote the below article using ChatGPT extensively. I will share, in detail, the prompts I experimented with.

Even though 80% of the piece was AI generated, the topic was very close to my heart. I have been feeling this constant fear of being left behind, because it has been hard trying to keep up with new tech.

Anyway, I hope you find my thoughs relatable, and the way I interacted with ChatGPT interesting.

I want to share with you my personal journey of coming to terms with reality, and specifically, my growing inability to keep up with today's technological advancements.

As a middle-aged person, I've experienced the evolution of technology over the years. From the advent of computers, the internet, mobile computing, and social media, I was able to keep up with the pace of change. However, in the last 5 years, I began to realize that I was struggling to keep up with the latest technological advancements, from blockchain to AI.

To help explain this, I want to use Venn diagrams to illustrate how my changing circumstances have impacted my ability to keep up with technology. In the past, my social circle, life responsibilities, and work title overlapped in such a way that I was able to actively engage with and learn about new technology.

In the first half of my career, when I was a lowly employee, I had to keep up with the new tools and software, just to do my job. Similarly, during that time, I was still single, and I had to be on chat rooms and social media sites just to remain available and (hopefully) attractive. Most importantly, I was in social circles where everyone else was basically doing the same- using tools, trying to look relevant, getting likes.

However, as I've gotten older, these circles have shifted and evolved, making it harder for me to keep up.

As a father of two and a middle manager, my responsibilities have grown and my time is more limited. Meanwhile, my social circle has become more limited, consisting mostly of people in similar circumstances and with similar needs. We (still) use Facebook and have no (good) reason to try Snapchat. Our jobs require us to push people around and suck up to our bosses, and allow us to continue to use Microsoft Word. Our friends are middle aged friends, parents, and all of them also are still permitted to use Word at work.

In contrast to the past, where these circles overlapped and supported my ability to keep up with technology, they now separate me from it. I find myself on the outside looking in, no longer able to easily engage with the latest technological advancements.

I want to leave you with a few questions to ponder. How are your social circumstances making you cope with the latest technological advancements? Are your life responsibilities and work titles allowing or stopping you from learning and adapting to new technologies? What do your Venn diagrams of social circles, life responsibilities, and work titles look like?

We all have our unique challenges when it comes to adapting to the fast pace of technological change. But with awareness and action, we can increase our overlaps in our own Venn diagrams. So, I invite you to join me in taking small steps towards embracing new technologies and increasing our capacity to learn and grow.

Let's challenge ourselves to step out of our comfort zones and seek out new experiences and learning opportunities. Let's connect with others who can support us in our learning journey. And let's not be afraid to ask for help when we need it.

Together, let's build our Venn diagrams and expand our capabilities to navigate the technological changes of today and tomorrow.

🤖 Behind The Scenes With ChatGPT

This article was written using ChatGPT extensively. I want to share how I did it. I learned new ways of prompting, and I applied them in this article.

1st Prompt:
"I want you to act as a social psychologist. You will research and analyze cultural, economic, political, and social events in the past, collect data from primary sources and use it to develop theories about what happened during various periods of societies and their people. My first suggestion request is "I need explanations to why I am particularly ill suited to keep up with the current technological revolution in AI. I am a 45 year old. I am a father of two. I am a middle manager."

Follow-up Prompts:
1. "Rewrite. Use Venn diagrams of social circles, life responsibilities, and work titles, to explain why I was able to keep up with previous technological changes. Use another Venn diagram to describe why my current circumstances make me ill suited to keep up with today’s technological advancements"

2. "I want you to act as a Ted talk speech writer. Rewrite the above for a middle age person who is coming to terms with reality. Retain the use of Venn diagrams in the speech."

3. "Replace the last two paragraphs with questions. Ask readers to think about their own suitability to cope with current changes. Ask them about their own Venn diagrams. Ask them to join me and help increase each other’s overlaps in our own Venn diagrams"

YOU CAN SUPPORT ME:

Reply and chat with me! Tell me what you think of this. Or whatever is on your mind. I will always reply, I guarantee it.

Share this with someone whom you think wants to sound smarter, and or anyone who deserves something light and fun.  (Plus, they trust your recommendations more than my LinkedIn ads.)

Thank you for reading this. I think about leadership & psychology in the showers. I know it's odd, but these topics are important and fun. I hope you find them useful too.

Work diligently. You are bound to be successful.

David