Is it possible to be future proof?
/Future-proofing a product, system or organisation gives it the ability to continue having value into the distant future. It stops the item becoming obsolete. But in these unprecedented times of continuing change, is it possible to be future proof? The young people from Zest’s new Youth Advisory Board have been discussing that question in recent weeks as they help us re-imagine the Zest of the future - a future for young people just like them.
Future Proof is Zest’s brand new youth advisory board. Meeting remotely as paid consultants, the group draws on the diverse young voices from 15 towns across the country. Their first task was to name their group, a process that took weeks of blue-sky thinking, shortlisting, and voting. As you’ll read, selecting Future Proof wasn’t a unanimous decision. But the discussions that led to that final choice were so insightful; not only as an indication of where they may lead Zest in the coming months but also as an insight into how young people feel about their own future.
Here’s what 7 Future Proof members had to say:
Henry, Brighton
When we first talked about Future Proof, it felt naive. What is future proof? Clearly, things can’t be future proof - it’s idealistic, else we wouldn’t be here now. But on reflection, there are things that are future proof, like the present, us, now. This version of myself, and yesterday’s, and last year’s, and ten years ago are all future proof because they all exist, regardless of the future. That also goes for feelings and ideas - the bits that make us human are in fact future proof. Young people aren’t future proof, but we are proof that there’ll be a future.
Jess, Lincoln
I think the only thing we can be is present proof and aware of what’s happening now. You can adapt to that and make sure you’re staying fluid in the current times. You can never know what’s going to happen in the future, so there’s no way to prepare for it properly. But then I also think that one way to be future proof is to be empathetic, and to be open-minded, and to be willing to change and adapt. People who are overly conservative and stuck in the past aren't future-proofed because even if they exist now they're still mentally in the past.
Elly, Darlington
A lot of people are stuck to a path where you have you go to school, get a job, get married, live the dream, earn a certain amount, have the house, give someone kids etc, etc. That’s what people see the future for us being. But what I see with our generation at the moment is that people are heavily into the world: who runs the world, who our leaders are, how we take care of this planet. It’s not about our small, little bubble of us creating a family. We are proof that we’re not going to be what is asked of us; we are individuals, we are our own people, we are a generation. We can create what we want to create. That is our future - having a message of what we want to say and owning that. To say what we want to say and not apologise for it; just to be us.
Eden, London
The word future proof is like an oxymoron. Because the future is so unpredictable, there are so many different possibilities. You don’t know what will happen from one minute to the next. It’s not in a linear line - it’s all over the place. You navigate your way through it but those spontaneous moments, those unpredictabilities are what make it interesting. And then, when I think about the word proof, it’s something that’s impenetrable, something that has limitation to it, that’s got a constraint. So it’s weird. Those two words being put together conjures the idea of something that’s being constrained but at the same time has a boundless of possibilities behind it. To be future proof, I think you just have to do whatever you can, even if it’s small. It doesn’t have to be tremendous. It could be talking to a family member, or talking to friends, having a talk with yourself. It’s just about getting yourself motivated and prepared to succeed in what you want to do. There are endless possibilities.
Rob, Lincoln
I like the idea of proof being ‘to prove’, or ‘to give evidence’. We are evidence for the future. Whether or not we succeed is evidence that we tried. So no one could then come to us and say ‘well, you didn’t do shit’, because we did, we did a lot. We put ourselves out there, the world can see the things we’ve created. If future generations want to do what we tried, they have that evidence, that stepping stone of what we might not have been able to succeed with, and they can use that. We know that not everything is going to be beautiful all the time, we can’t create perfection. I think perfection is a stupid word. There’s no such thing, you can’t perfect anything because someone will find something wrong with it, or you will. So there is no point in perfection, but there’s a possibility for greatness and amazement, and wonder. There are different words you can use; perfection is just a stupid word. It just is.
Millie, Hartlepool
This pandemic has taught us that you can’t prepare yourself for everything that’s going to happen in the future. But it’s nice to be ‘glass half full’ and be positive about things. If we look at things a certain way, I feel we could be prepared for what the future might fling at us. We’re all forward-thinking, we're all aware of the things that are going on in the world and we’re all woke. We’re very aware of things that might not affect us directly but are still important issues regardless. I think we’re selfless in that regard. In the future, I will be helping those things, which makes me future proof.
Cas, Lincoln
When it comes to being future proof, everything has an expiry date. Everything becomes old and outdated eventually. That’s just an inevitable cycle. But the younger generation is always changing and evolving, and will always be up to date and on the ball and be open to the madness that is the world. Because all the time kids are growing into this awareness and understanding this completely new work view. Young people are opinionated, strive for change and have infinitely creative minds. It comes down to my favourite movie ever, V for Vendetta. The message throughout that film is that you can’t kill an idea. Ideas, whilst not tangible, are infinite and they are forever. There is nothing you can do to get rid of an idea. So as long as we continue to think creatively and to be open-minded, then that process will never become outdated.
