Rethinking Fun

If you aren't having fun doing what you are doing, make it fun or do something else.

This philosophy drives most of my life decisions, but I bring it up because maybe you have heard of kidulting.

Kidulting is a pseudo-intellectual term to describe the growing phenomenon of adults playing with toys.

This word is trash. It should be sailed out to the ocean and fed to sharks.

Nothing screams NOT FUN louder than someone explaining why adults want to have fun.

Adults want to have fun because having fun is fun, and being an adult is a soul-draining quagmire of passwords and taxes. 

The notion of adults playing with kids' toys is silly on many levels. There is nothing about toys that make them exclusive for kids. The toy doesn't care how old you are. The only people who care are the boring adults jealous of the people having all the fun. 

Have fun. Enjoy your life.

Stop listening to "experts" who use words like kidulting. 

You aren't an adult trying to act like a kid. 

You are a person acting like a person who wants to have fun. 

Now if you will excuse me, there's a bucket of sidewalk chalk with my name on it. 

for information on individual therapy, contact me at bradleyjabel@gmail.com

mental health and AI, #3

"Use it or lose it." 

That's what they say about your physical health. 

The same is true for your cognitive functioning.

This is one of the most devious and destructive elements of AI.

Today, my job took me to 6 new locations in parts of town I'm not familiar with.

I could have asked AI to map the most efficient route.

I chose to do it myself.

I value my ability to chart my own course exponentially more than I value AI's ability to save 3 minutes of time.

Thinking for myself is not a skill I want to lose because I'm not using it.

The more you ask of AI, the less you expect of yourself.

Next time you ask AI to complete some mundane or ordinary task, ask yourself one question. 

"Is this a piece of myself I am willing to lose?"

for information on individual therapy, contact me at bradleyjabel@gmail.com

mental health and AI #2

AI is taking hold in our society because we don't appreciate ourselves and our own abilities.

You ask AI to write an email for you.

You are asking a computer program to do something that you've done hundreds of times. 

But you aren't just writing an email.

You are organizing your thoughts.

You are articulating your needs in a way that is unique to you.

You have the confidence to hit send, thereby sharing your thoughts with others.

Have you stopped to think about how amazing those simple, routine tasks really are?

Or are you just writing an email?

When you ask AI to perform a mundane task (to do lists, emails, meeting agendas), you are devaluing your own ability to organize and express your thoughts in a way that no other species on the planet can.

You are losing piece of what makes you human.

We have to appreciate who we are and what we do, even if what we are doing seems routine and boring. 

Years ago, I compiled a list of 5 critical traits for good emotional health.

In my humble opinion, appreciation is the most important.

And we need it now more than ever before. 

for information on individual therapy, contact me at bradleyjabel@gmail.com