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In a sign of the times, Boy Scouts can now earn merit badges in artificial intelligence (AI) and cybersecurity as they learn tech survival skills. The Boy Scouts of America, which rebranded itself as Scouting America back in February, counts about 1 million Scouts in its ranks. The 115-year-old organization has traditionally offered badges to encourage kids to learn outdoor survival skills like first aid, hiking, and cooking, as well as soft skills like public speaking, communication, and citizenship in the world. (Here’s a look at all 141 badges.) “The introduction of the artificial intelligence and cybersecurity merit badges marks another step forward as we continue our mission of preparing for life, Roger Krone, president of Scouting America told Fast Company. As technology continues to shape every aspect of our lives . . . these merit badges empower Scouts with foundational knowledge in two of the most critical and rapidly evolving fields.” The merit badges introduce Scouts to the fundamentals of AI and automation through hands-on activities and real-world examples in daily life and school that examine ethical concerns like bias and privacy, according to the Scouting America website. To earn the new badges, Scouts learn key AI concepts (machine learning, narrow AI, superintelligent AI, tasks, triggers, workflows, and variables), investigate deepfakes, and practice how to communicate effectively with AI. The badges are designed to interact with the Scoutly chatbot. Like many older organizations, Scouting America is hoping to stay relevant in a world in which today’s younger generations are increasingly digitally savvy and dependent on technologyand the new badges are the organization’s way of doing so, CNN reported. It’s also a way for Scouting America to retain younger members at a time when the organization is losing them. It now has about half of its membership of 2 million from 2018down from its peak of 5 million in 1972, according to The Associated Press. But what the group has lost in membership, it has gained in inclusivity and diversity. Since allowing females to join in 2018, the organization today includes more than 176,000 girls and young women. It has allowed gay members since 2013.
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Youve just lost your job. It hard. It’s really, really hard. Theres the initial shock, rage or panicbut then its time to immediately hop on the endless merry-go-round of excruciating applications, unresponsive recruiters, pleading LinkedIn DMs, and occasional existential crises. You can quickly feel hopeless, all alone, adrift, angry, and at wits end. Thats where we come in. Fast Companythe go-to authority on career development, workplace innovation, and business newsis debuting Between Jobs: a brand new pop-up newsletter, written for folks freshly out of work and on Day 1 of navigating their new normal. Want to hire a ghostwriter for your LinkedIn profile, but not sure where to start? Is your new cash flow triggering a panic attack? Tempted to go on a tweetstorm about your old boss and need to be talked down? Were here to help. Between Jobs is your indispensable unemployment resource, as well as a constant, knowledgeable companion to stand beside you on every step of the journey, from filing for unemployment to negotiating an offer. Each issue is chockfull of deep reporting, bite-sized action items, and step-by-step instructions on what to do next. From professors to therapists, and HR pros to CEOsBetween Jobs fills your inbox with expert insight to make the job search work for you. (And to end it as soon as possible.) Here’s what you’ll get: Week 1: Digesting the shock, forming a plan Week 2: Resumes: How to revamp, optimize, and dazzle Week 3: Leveraging LinkedIn: the best strategies Week 4: Fortifying your finances Week 5: Safeguarding your sanity Week 6: Tools of the trade: Gig-landing apps, services, and hacks Week 7: Networking: as important as (and easier than) you think Week 8: The home stretch: landing the gig And more . . .
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Researchers are only just beginning to piece together the complex ways that technology affects young minds, but a new study raises some serious concerns. A paper published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association, better known as JAMA, explored the relationship between social media use and cognitive performance in kids starting at age 9. The new research drew on data collected from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study, a massive, long-term study on adolescent health and brain development being conducted in the U.S. The ABCD study is currently following almost 12,000 children from age 9 to 10 as they age, with a particular focus on how things like sports, video games, technology, and other common childhood experiences shape health and behavior outcomes over the years. Opting to focus on social media use instead of passive screen time, the newly published research examined how different levels of social media use affected cognitive performance, measured by a standard battery of attention, memory and critical thinking tests. … Unlike passive screen time, social media use typically involves interactive, personalized, and cognitively demanding activities, yet there is a paucity of studies that have analyzed the associations between distinct longitudinal social media usage patterns and multiple domains of cognitive functioning, the authors wrote. The team analyzed data from more than 6,000 children, ultimately sorting them into three different groups based on their social media habits: a no or very low social media use group, a group that started with low use and began using social media for around an hour each day, and a group that started with high levels of social media use that ramped up to around three hours a day over time. The no or low social media use group was by far the largest, including 58% of the children in the study. The group that didnt use social media much at first but used it more over time represented 37% of the children, while the high use group was only 6% of the children in the study. The study looked at the participants cognitive test scores at age 9 or 10 and then again two years later, using no or low social media use group as a reference group to compare against the two groups of kids who used social media more frequently. The researchers found that kids in both groups with higher social media use consistently scored lower on cognitive tests measuring oral reading skills, short-term memory and listening comprehension. While kids who used social media more scored lower across the board when compared to the no to low social media use group, the group of kids who used social media the most performed the worst out of all three groups. Those results are both alarming and a little bit hopeful. Keeping kids away from social media altogether isnt necessarily an option for most parents, but putting limits on the amount of time they spend could mitigate the negative impact of social apps. Previous literature has hypothesized that social media use replacing more educational activities or schoolwork may explain the association between social media use and lower cognitive performance, the authors wrote. The specific associations between increasing social media use and poorer performance on the [Oral Reading Recognition Test] and [Picture Vocabulary Test], which tests stored language knowledge, support this hypothesis. Because both groups of children who were spending more time on social media suffered from lower scores, the authors suggest that stricter age restrictions could offer one possible solution. They also pointed out the limitations of their research. While the study was able to analyze test results from a huge sample of children as they aged, future research could benefit from examining if different social media platforms affect childrens development in different ways.
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