If Gen X and Millennials grew up with a “digital divide,” perhaps Gen Z will face an “agentic divide”: those who believe they have the power to change their circumstances, versus those who do not. 

The opposite of agency is learned helplessness. If people believe that we can’t do very much to stop the world’s problems, it’s unsurprising that they’d be terrified to bring children into the world. But this seems like a mental trap that we can, and should, teach people to resist falling into. As  Clare Coffey writes  in “Failure to Cop

"If “grit” – the desire to persevere when faced with a challenge, popularized by psychologist Angela Duckworth – has been the human trait  du jour  of the last fifteen-odd years, I suspect that “agency” – a belief in one’s ability to influence their circumstances – could be the defining trait of the next generation."

Searching for a good photo in the every-day of life teaches us to notice our surroundings more.

“A camera is a device for learning how to see without a camera.” —Dorothea Lange

These days it is possible to live particularly disembodied existences, enabled by environments and transportation so comfortable you can wear flip-flops in New England all winter long if you want to. My hope is that the quest every day for a good photo causes you to be outdoors and on foot more. On foot it is impossible to remain out of touch.

" Younger generations didn’t become “more technical”, per se – if anything, they’re probably less technically literate overall. It’s  programming  itself that became easier, because there are now so many tools and layers of abstraction available that make coding a much more trivial practice than before."

My sense is that those with a strong sense of personal agency don’t always realize that not everyone shares this position.

If you are motivated, you may become so dissatisfied with your environment that you decide to remake it more beautifully. With daily photography, this may happen often, usually when you want to take a picture of something and the background is incredibly messy so you decide to pick up!