Dear Class of 2026: The commencement speech you never asked for
Unsolicited life advice from some author who graduated into a recession and remembers life before the internet.
Congratulations, class of 2026! You’ve returned the sweaty black robes and probably moved out of your student housing. Well-meaning old people are asking you what your plans are now. The world continues to be what it is, everything is way too expensive, and it’s really hard for recent college graduates to find a job right now. You’ve probably seen the charts.
I wrote a book about someone in your position who graduated into a somewhat similar, though not identical situation. It’s drawn from my experiences, and the experiences of my friends who graduated into what was then called the worst job market since the Great Depression. Back in the late 2000s, a bunch of rich guys gave too many people mortgages they couldn’t afford and tanked everything. Now, a bunch of rich guys became obsessed with AI and decided fascism might be fun.
The author on graduation day in 2010. God, I loved those hoops.
You can tune out now, by the way. My advice might be useless. I sincerely feel for you. This sucks, and I probably can’t relate to many of the things you’ve grown up with as normal: active shooter drills since you could walk, social media rewiring our brains, everyone being able to record and post your most embarrassing moments, going to school during a pandemic, having fewer rights than your parents did at your age.
But I’m old and my back hurts, so clearly I feel entitled to dispense what I see as wisdom. I’m still figuring out the keys to a good life in *these times*, but I’ve learned some things that could be relevant.
Don’t forget to create things with your brain and hands. Doing so makes you automatically more observant, and it can make your brain feel a little less tired at the end of a long day of looking at the internet.
Be careful what you outsource to AI. Yes, learn all the tools for admin work that slows you down. But when it comes to your brain, if you don’t use it, you lose it, and nobody wants to lose skills or neural pathways.
Spiritual practices and workouts are great, just don’t make them your entire personality. Insert plug for my book here, yadayadayada this is a big part of the plot for Be Well.
Make a point of living life IRL. Everyone is both their best and worst selves online, and most of it’s not real. Meet new people in-person, even if it’s awkward, and especially if you work from home.
Find something really, really silly that you love to do. I cannot stress enough the importance of having a supremely silly hobby. Mine is competitive punning.
Try to do something that helps you cultivate realistic hope. That’s something I’m actively working on right now, so I’ll let you know how that goes for me. I read a lot of articles like this.
Pick something you want to improve in the world, and commit to the bit. I hate it when people tell me to “think globally, act locally,” but it honestly is something that helps give you a springboard to do bigger things. Going back and forth with the HOA to put a Little Free Library in my neighborhood was better than doomscrolling, and it did make me more optimistic about my neighbors. It also gave me a platform to disseminate delightful children’s books that would make some ban-happy school boards have a stroke.
If you haven’t graduated or job-searched recently, maybe hold off on telling the newly-minted degree-holders to “pound the pavement” and instead pre-order my book as a belated gift for them. They might have fun reading about a time when people had digital camera straps around their wrists when they went out after the graduation ceremony was over.
Now, your assignment in the comments: what is the best tip you have for 2026 graduates? Wrong answers only!