The kids are AI, right?

This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, an engagement gap of Bloomberg Opinion’s opinions. On Sundays, we look at the major themes of the week past [Bloomberg]( This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, an engagement gap of Bloomberg Opinion’s opinions. On Sundays, we look at the major themes of the week past and how they will define the week ahead. Sign up for the daily newsletter [here](. [High Risk Insurance]( As discerning readers may have observed, I am not a big fan of [intergenerational whingeing]( — an art form pioneered by baby boomers, refined by millennials and now perfected by Gen Z.  (Gen X was too busy [doing]( [whatever]( to join the pity party.) Which is why I love [charts like this](, from Allison Schrager, showing that millennials aren’t the great victims of the housing market they have long claimed to be: Especially in conjunction with this, via Redfin: But even if Gen Z gets their own homes, will they carry each other over the threshold? Leticia Miranda thinks that major jewelers could get left at the altar. Signet, which owns Kay, Zales and Jared, has seen “year-to-date mid-teen declines in sales, which it has blamed on pandemic lockdowns slowing down dating and causing an ‘[engagement gap](.’ ” Leticia is skeptical. “There is little evidence that dating ever came to a complete halt during the pandemic,” she writes. “While people [still want]( to tie the knot, marriage — and engagements — have become a less important goal in relationships.” There is one subject on which I can commiserate with even the most annoying demographic: insurance. And while it may seem odd that people under age 40 would have to worry much about shuffling off the mortal coil, proud millennial Erin Lowry thinks it’s never too soon to get in a tizzy over life insurance. “Adulthood often feels like managing an endless to-do list and having to make major decisions with minimal to no information or experience — but with potentially dire consequences,” she writes. “Perhaps a feeling of decision fatigue is why so many folks, especially millennials and Gen Z, find themselves without proper insurance coverage.” Sometimes the problem isn’t too little, she says, but too much: “Allowing your brain to wander down the rabbit hole of every possible disaster scenario can easily lead to a panicked impulse to purchase every type of insurance policy.” She actually has my sympathies. So do the youngest Americans, and their parents, if Tyler Cowen’s Brave New World comes to pass. “Most students have a favorite teacher. In the future, could that teacher be … a chatbot?” [he asks](.  “Imagine a chatbot programmed to be your child’s friend. It would be exactly the kind of friend your kid wants, even (you hope) the kind of friend your kid needs. Your child might talk with this chatbot for hours each day.” Class, meet your new teacher, Miss Ava: Well, if raising the tykes may not get easier, it could get more affordable for poorer Americans. If Congress restores President Joe Biden’s 2021 expansion of the child tax credit, Karl W. Smith says that it will be worth the hit to the budget deficit. “The cost of not lowering child poverty is extreme,” Karl [writes](. “A 2018 paper published by Social Work Research and authored by Washington University professors Michael McLaughlin and Mark Rank estimated the total cost of child poverty on the US economy to [exceed $1 trillion per year](. Their analysis showed that reductions in worker productivity, increases in crime and increases in health care costs were the largest contributors to the economic loss associated with child poverty.” Bonus [Generational]( Reading: - AI Isn’t the Only [Misinformation Culprit]( to Worry About — Parmy Olson - Philippines’ [Baby Bust]( Will One Day Be a Global Labor Problem — Daniel Moss - Measles Outbreak Should Be a [Vaccine Wake-Up Call]( — Lisa Jarvis [Feedback Jam](: Are you an empty nester who kinda wishes your kids were still living at home? Asking for a friend. Let me know at tharshaw@bloomberg.net. [1](#footnote-1) [What’s the World Got in Store](? - Jan. 23: Oscar nominations - Who Needs Scorsese? The Osage [Can Tell]( Their Own Stories — Bobby Ghosh - Jan. 23: BOJ rate decision - Japan [Can Guilt-Trip]( Its Stocks Past 38,915.87 — Gearoid Reidy - Jan. 25: US GDP - A Shorter Workweek Is the [Canary of the Labor Market]( — Conor Sen [Children of the Revolution]( I’m old enough to remember when getting fired wasn’t an experience you wanted to share with your friends, never mind the entire world. But is the infamous [nine-minute TikTok]( posted by a now ex-Cloudflare employee of her own dismissal more than an extreme example of twentysomethings’ addiction to indecent exposure? “The lack of context about the employee’s situation has allowed the video to become a blank canvas on which viewers can project their own sympathies and judgments,” [writes]( Sarah Green Carmichael. “Videos might seem like a way to level the playing field of power, but that’s an illusion.” Along those lines, Adrian Wooldridge has long seen the post-Covid flexibility of employers as a trap, in which our bosses now  treat our homes as an extension of the office. It is, Adrian [writes](, “a technological revolution that is radically reducing the cost of surveillance while simultaneously improving the quality: A revolution that is ... turning the devices and apps that have become necessary for modern life into monitoring devices. That home office in your castle? It’s now a panopticon.” If the Cloudflare TikToker sees herself as a counterrevolutionary, I don’t think she’s found many [dancing]( [partners](.[2](#footnote-2) “It’s tempting to think that she who holds the camera holds the cards,” adds Sarah. “But these days, we all take turns holding the camera.” Which leaves my slacker brain puzzled: Why would you turn it on yourself? Notes: Please send highly intelligent gynoids]( and feedback to Tobin Harshaw at tharshaw@bloomberg.net [1] Last week's question, on the usefulness of airport books, got a lot of replies on ... the Green Bay Packers, a [team I own](! And that was before the wonderful Drubbing in Dallas. [2] Sorry, but I've had to add "If I can't dance, I don't want to be part of your revolution," supposedly said by the anarchist Emma Goldman, to my long list of falsely attributed quotes. See footnote 1 [here](. Follow Us Like getting this newsletter? 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