Ryan Vet | Generational Futurist

66% of U.S. parents say parenting feels isolating or lonely (Ohio State, 2024). PPD diagnoses nearly doubled, from 9.4% to 19.0%, between 2010 and 2021 (JAMA, 2024). The first generation of mothers raised on social media is also the first to mother under one.

Last weekend at a high school production of Peter Pan, a teenage girl played Peter's mother. She lay on a windowsill and said she had been waiting fifty years for her son to come home. Love. Loss. Hope. The window is still open.

Each tool we built to make mothering easier carried a quiet weight in return. Dishwashers replaced help. Delivery replaced neighbors. Cameras replaced presence. Apps replaced wisdom. We made the work easier. We made it lonelier.

In 1964, 9.5% of American 3- and 4-year-olds were in any kind of school or care program. By 2011, it was 52.4%. The U.S. daycare industry is now $74.7 billion. We didn't just outsource the work. We outsourced the village. What did we trade?

Wendy, the Windowsill, and the Village We Lost open.substack.com/pub/ryancvet/p…

The average American mother had her first child at 21.4 in 1970. In 2023, the age was 27.5. The highest on record. The U.S. fertility rate is now 1.621 births per woman. The lowest the U.S. has ever recorded. (CDC/NCHS, 2025)

MY GOD...this is so good. @ryancvet on surveillance childhood: "The baby isn’t sleeping in the parents’ room, but the monitor tracks oxygen, heart rate, and breathing. "The parent isn’t at daycare, but photos arrive in their app every hour. "The parent isn’t asking how their child slept, because the sleep score already answered. "The child walks home alone, but their location is live-tracked. "It looks like independence. It feels like freedom. But it isn’t. "Imagine this moment: “'Did you hit your brother?'” “'No.'” “'Hold on, I’m going to check the camera.'” ryanvet.com/collide/the-fu… - Ryan Vet | RyanVet.com

Nine months ago, the Gen Z stare was a TikTok meme. This spring it became a line item. Walmart is spending close to $1B on skills training. A significant portion is VR simulations teaching people how to acknowledge another human standing in front of them.

If every generation thinks the one after them is entitled, and every generation thinks the one before them is rigid, is it possible we're all describing the same growing pain from different angles?

47 of the top 50 bestselling toys on Amazon are analog. Parents are pushing back on screens. But nearly half of Millennial parents adopted a parenting philosophy from the internet. From Google to ChatGPT isn't a leap. It's a slide. collide.ryanvet.com/p/the-future-o…

We talk a lot about preparing kids for the future. What if the most important thing we can teach them is how to be bored?

Honest question for leaders: when was the last time you changed your mind because someone younger challenged your thinking?

The Doomsday Clock is at 85 seconds to midnight. The real story isn't the clock. It's the pattern: power establishes authority, authority commands control, control creates transcendence. Then it collapses. Capabilities have outpaced wisdom. collide.ryanvet.com/p/85-seconds-t…

The organizations struggling most with Gen Z aren't the ones with bad culture. They're the ones with unspoken culture. Rules everyone knows but no one wrote down. That worked when people stayed 20 years. Not when someone needs to read the room in 20 days.

Boomers trusted the evening news. Gen X learned to verify. Millennials wanted quick access. Gen Z? They trust what's repeated. Frequency equals transparency. If you're only talking to your team quarterly, they can't hear you. collide.ryanvet.com/p/when-frequen…

Boomers built loyalty through tenure. Gen X through competence. Millennials through shared mission. Gen Z through transparency. None are wrong. But if you're leading with one and expecting the others to follow, you'll wonder why the room feels empty.

Leaders keep saying Gen Z doesn't want to work hard. What I keep seeing is Gen Z asking "why" before they work hard. One is a character flaw. The other is a leadership opportunity.

In the 1960s, the Senate thought computers might let us retire before 40. Instead, 25-year-olds are checking into "retirement homes" in Malaysia. Three meals. No screens. Structured quiet. They're not lazy. They're recalibrating. collide.ryanvet.com/p/the-retireme…

70% of Gen Z is trying to reduce their environmental impact. They're also rapidly adopting AI. One AI conversation uses a water bottle of freshwater. They're not careless. They can't afford to fall behind. collide.ryanvet.com/p/the-velocity…

The most dangerous phrase in leadership right now isn't "we've always done it this way." It's "they just don't get it."