Before I even begin, I will make very clear I am wildly proud and happy with my teenage son.  Slacking is something that I’m sure every father notices at some point in their children and feels an obvious obligation to reduce.  Yelling directly in one’s face or beating with a stick may not be the only way to adequately get the point across to a teenager, as natural as it may feel.  I think the issue with any slacking is the relationship of current video games or television with a future of reduced wages and low standard of living.  Obviously they are thinking about their future, just not for than 5-10 minutes from the present.  Coincidentally, they are easily prone to distraction in many forms.  One of those forms commonly being an app on their ipod or phone.

The idea for today is a simple app that would paint a future picture of the young person and give them a no nonsense, immediately engaging understanding of what their current behavior will more than likely bring them, down the road.  10 year increments could be used, going all the way to expected retirement.   It would be an educational tool disguised as a game.  Upon starting the app, the user, er – slacker, would be guided through a quick process of entering their name and location, and taking a quick picture of themselves, which would be added to the app for effect, and a thumbnail of their face would be used throughout the process.  They would be asked some basic but important questions, like “what would your choice of automobile be, if you could pick between the following 5 choices – truck, motorcycle, vintage car, sports car, foreign sedan”  These type of questions would form a solid connection to the teen as they use the app and it caters the result to them, (more on this below).   Some of the most important questions would be, “What kinds of grades do you have?”
“What college do you intend to go to and for what occupation?”
“Do you intend to get married?”
“How many children do you see yourself having?”

The app would then allow them to advance 10, 20, 30 years into the future, and would accurately give their expected standard of living in terms a teen could appreciate.  Like 3 most likely cars they are driving (based on the initial input of their taste), where they are eating when they go out to dinner, or perhaps the quantity of times they can expect doing extra things they love, like going to a pro football game or stadium concert. Aging software would modify their face, on their thumbnail, just making the result more real for them.  The key with the app is that it could do all the math in the background.  Telling a teen they will make 14 dollars an hour means nothing to them.  Telling a teen they will more than likely be driving a used economy car, or be living in a one bedroom apartment in a crummy area of town and actually using real locations that they know, that will have a much bigger effect.  You could even throw in options asking if they plan using recreational drugs, or any other question that could engage their current thinking and apply it to their future selves. The statistics are out there.  The math can be applied.  The app is not giving an exact bottom line, it is just showing the difference between this path and the other.  Will it cause a mass exodus of teens from the video games to the public library, not likely, but if enough kids load it up on their device and talk about it, the consciousness WILL increase and that means that lives WILL be changed.

I will contribute 500.00 towards making this a reality.