It actually turns out that younger generations are more cynical and less trusting than older generations. Among Gen Z, only 18% of people believe that most folks can be trusted, most of humanity can be trusted, for a couple of reasons that I'm speculating here. One, that they're the most online generation that we have, at least that are adults.

And two, that we've taught them to be cynical. Older adults, parents for instance, think that their kids will thrive if they believe the world is dangerous and competitive. And so we instill those beliefs in our kids. We tell them all about terrible people they should avoid and make them feel as though strangers are dangerous and that they need us watching them all the time to avoid being kidnapped, for instance.

And of course there are real dangers in the world. But when we emphasize them this much to our kids, to our students, to the younger people in our lives, we end up shrinking their worlds, which I don't think actually is very good for them at all.