The mother of a college student shares lessons from a recent orange pill session with her daughter and her friends at school.
This is an opinion editorial by Tali Lindberg, mother of a college student and co-creator of the HODL UP Bitcoin game.
Hyperbitcoinization is a future that all Bitcoiners look forward to witnessing. It is defined through the Nakamoto Institute as “a voluntary transition from a lower to a higher currency, and its adoption is a series of individual acts…”
But who are the people who need to act to switch from using a certain currency to using Bitcoin? I argue that today’s Gen Z college students will play a significant role in that transition. Unfortunately, most of them don’t follow Bitcoin threads on Twitter, or read articles about the latest developments in monetary policy. However, they are the future leaders of our country and the world and possess the power to influence policy. It is crucial that we find a way to reach them and educate them about Bitcoin.
That is why, as a passionate Bitcoin enthusiast, I am determined to make a difference and introduce this revolutionary technology of freedom to college students. For me, making a difference means investing my time to impact, even slightly, those who have yet to join the Bitcoin ranks. In this article, I share my experience and lessons learned with a recent example. My conclusion is that we are empowered, even compelled, to make a difference by sharing Bitcoin with the youth in our lives.
Visiting my daughter with a Bitcoin game in hand
I recently traveled to visit my oldest son at his university. Fortunately, he has a healthy group of friends who share traditional and respectful values. They’re good kids, the salt of the earth who just so happens to know nothing about Bitcoin. My perfect audience!
I came armed with nothing but my passion and a Bitcoin board game I created with my husband, HODL UP. For the next two hours, I sat on the cold, hard floor of a dormitory playing with six students. My goal: to arouse your curiosity about Bitcoin in a fun way. These students major in business, environmental science, mathematics, and psychology. While everyone had heard of Bitcoin from the media headlines, they had no real understanding of what it is and how it works, or even why it matters.
Explaining the game to them was quick and easy. They had no questions about Bitcoin. They just wanted to know how to play the game. So, I didn’t spend time explaining the parts of the game and what they meant in real life. I just told them each player’s options each turn. The game started and the students quickly picked up the pace.
As the game progressed, the students shared friendly chats while attacking and defending their gaming bitcoin. The room rang with their laughter and it warmed my heart. At the same time, though, I felt like having them, any of them, ask me something about what they were experiencing in the game: the difficulty setting, the halving, hot and cold wallets, anything. It was hard to hold your tongue and not spoil the fun.
The game ended with a three-way tie and a close fourth place. All the students had wide smiles on their faces as they high-fived and celebrated. So they started helping me pack up the game pieces. When the last piece was returned to the box, I was anxious that stillNo one had asked me any questions. “Oh my gosh, is someone going to ask me something?” I thought. “Somebody ask me something!”
Now we’re getting somewhere
All the students exclaimed that the game was super fun and thanked me for sharing it.
“Great, I’m glad you enjoyed it,” I smiled and replied, but inside I yelled, “Ask me about Bitcoin!”
No!
Unable to contain myself any longer, I asked them, “Does anyone have any questions about the game?”
No response.
One more try: “Does anyone understand why Bitcoin has a difficulty adjustment?”
“That?” one student responded, “was that real?”
“Yes, everything in this game has something to do with how Bitcoin works in real life,” I replied. “What did you learn about hot and cold wallets? What is your best practice?”
One student responded, “Well, I learned that I have to keep some money cold but some money warm so I can make informed investments.”
“That?” I thought.
“What do you think the hot and cold wallets represent?” I asked them.
Another student responded: “Liquid and non-liquid assets.”
Oh, now we’re getting somewhere, I thought. I clarified what cold storage really is and the importance of keeping your private keys offline.
Then I asked, “If you have a dollar and you put it in your pocket, how can someone steal it without touching it?”
Without hesitation, one of the students replied: “Through the printing of money.”
I then explained that one of the best features of Bitcoin is that there will only be 21 million BTC, no more. No matter how much someone justifies needing more, there will only be 21 million bitcoin with a scheduled release that is managed through halving events.
It was hard not to sound preachy. I ended up telling the environmental science student how Bitcoin uses wasted energy, making it productive, and sent him a couple of articles. I also gave some book recommendations to the business student who said he wanted to read about Bitcoin over the summer.
As I drove home, I went over the night in my mind and wondered if it had made any difference. Then I got a text from one of the students. He thanked me for the opportunity to play HODL UP. “He was pretty insightful,” she said.
“Perceptive? ‘Insightful’ is good”, I thought. “I’ll take ‘insightful’.”
I’m only there to plant a seed, I reminded myself. Instead of concentrating on trying to give someone an orange pill, I’m just planting a seed. Over time, life and circumstance will water the seed and hopefully one day the person will find themselves sliding down the Bitcoin rabbit hole. But I cannot insist on seeing the fruit of the seed as soon as I plant the seed. That feeds my ego, but it’s the wrong approach to what I’m doing and will create unnecessary and useless tension in my interactions with students.
So, moving forward, here are three things I plan to keep in mind and recommend to parents, grandparents, and teachers when sharing Bitcoin with young adults:
- Warm up the audience and create a positive association: It was infinitely easier to get students’ attention when talking about Bitcoin after they associated a fun experience with Bitcoin than if I were left with nothing. Therefore, the game first.
- Focus on having a good time, not teaching the nitty-gritty – keep things simple and light. Explain only when necessary or if asked and avoid soap box syndrome.
- Remember, we are only planting the seed. Everyone comes to Bitcoin when they are ready. We must maintain a low time preference perspective.
To the next one! Game On!
This is a guest post by Tali Lindberg. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.
