User’s Guide to Now

Grief is a process that is best shared. But when you can’t even go to a loved one’s funeral, how do you begin?

In this episode, Aleks speaks with the Red Cross’ Dr. Valerie Cole, lead Clinical Psychologist on the humanitarian organisation’s Integrated Care and Condolence Team, about the unique experience of losing someone during a mass casualty event. What can you expect to see in the people who are bereaved, and what psychological first aid can you apply to help them start the “normal” mourning process?

Loss at any time is extremely isolating but loss during a pandemic is much worse, according to Grief.com’s David Kessler. Over the last few years, David has been finding meaning through his work as an online resource hub and digital support network for people who’ve experienced loss. He guides us through the virtual version of bereavement support.

Me? Teach? You must be joking. But there are 1.5 billion kids out of school right now - including my kindergartener - and all I know about teaching is what I learned at age 8 from my Aunt Dana while I helped her set up her first grade classroom for the new school year: every student should have a notebook. And if you need more than one worksheet, use carbon paper.

Look, this is a professional’s job. I am not trained to take on my child’s education. But here we are. Now, it’s my turn to earn that shiny red apple. It’s my responsibility to put information into my child’s head in a compelling and retrievable way. How can I preserve my sanity, my income, and maintain her love of learning when all I want to do is throw away the books and play hooky?

This week, I speak with Linda Stone. She has been teaching young actors in Los Angeles for 40 years when they’re on set, and not at school. She crams in lessons in 20 minute increments between rehearsals, long shots and emotional scenes, and still her students return to their schools after production is done on the literal same page as their classmates. She shares her most valuable lessons on what to teach within time constraints, and what are the essential supplies she uses to do it.

In the second half, Anya Kamenetz, journalist, author and NPR’s education correspondent gives me the lowdown on which online resources are the best, and which unsolicited EdTech emails I can just delete before bothering to open them.

The fate of the future actually is in parents’ hands. Can we panic now? The User’s Guide to Now is here to help.

What do we need to do to get along with the people we’re confined with, rather than trying to kill one another? Today Aleks speaks with Dr Peggy Whitson, NASA Astronaut and twice commander of the International Space Station. Peggy has the most cumulative days of anyone else in space - 665 days confined to a tiny metal tube with people she had to develop a good relationship with - and lead through complicated and life-critical tasks. She’ll know how balance work and home school and life and everything, and maintain the peace in our little Earth Ship. And if she doesn’t, Behan Gifford, a woman who’s spent the last twelve years sailing the ocean blue with her husband and their three teenage kids certainly will. Are you suffering from too much togetherness? This is your guide not just to survival but to prospering as a team.

Being on your own can be maddening. Self-isolation can easily tip into self-sabotage. How do you recognise when you’re in trouble, and how do you reach out and ask for help when you really need it? In this episode, Dr Aleks Krotoski speaks with polar explorer and author Eric Larsen (On Thin Ice), a man who's whole life is dedicated to being on his own in hostile conditions. Eric shares some of his most harrowing lows on the ice, before giving some practical tips for pulling yourself out of a mental hole when there’s no one around to hear you scream. Psychologist Dr Nathan Smith explains why this period of isolation is so maddening, and what his work with explorers and astronauts can teach us about ways we can protect our mental wellbeing.

Collaborating Under Confinement: The temptation may be to get out of bed when you want and work in your pajamas. But you need to give more than you do in the office when you work remotely. How do you manage your time, come up with creative solutions, stimulate ideas and make sure everyone’s motivated to deliver their best when there’s an existential crisis at the door and all you get is 15 minutes of catch-up each day? In today's episode of User's Guide To Now, Dr Aleks Krotoski asks NYT Bestselling author Jason Fried (co-founder and CEO of BaseCamp, and author of "Getting Real", "REWORK", "Remote: Office Not Required", and "It Doesn't Have to Be Crazy at Work") why offices are the worst places to work, and how the lockdown is an opportunity for transformation. He gives Aleks tips and tricks that he's learned over more than 15 years of remote working, and what you need to do to succeed at working from home. She then tests Jason's advice with The Economist's Tom Standage - Deputy Editor and point man behind the paper's in-house start-up Espresso. What have they done to make sure they get each issue out to 1.7m subscribers worldwide - when everyone's working from home?

Collaborating Under Confinement: The temptation may be to get out of bed when you want and work in your pajamas. But you need to give more than you do in the office when you work remotely. How do you manage your time, come up with creative solutions, stimulate ideas and make sure everyone’s motivated to deliver their best when there’s an existential crisis at the door and all you get is 15 minutes of catch-up each day? In today's episode of User's Guide To Now, Dr Aleks Krotoski asks NYT Bestselling author Jason Fried (co-founder and CEO of BaseCamp, and author of "Getting Real", "REWORK", "Remote: Office Not Required", and "It Doesn't Have to Be Crazy at Work") why offices are the worst places to work, and how the lockdown is an opportunity for transformation. He gives Aleks tips and tricks that he's learned over more than 15 years of remote working, and what you need to do to succeed at working from home. She then tests Jason's advice with The Economist's Tom Standage - Deputy Editor and point man behind the paper's in-house start-up Espresso. What have they done to make sure they get each issue out to 1.7m subscribers worldwide - when everyone's working from home?

You have a deadline in three hours and your daughter wants to play another game of hide and seek. There’s no more work on the Lockdown Distance Learning portal. Is it OK to give her a screen, and if you do, what should she do? In today's episode of User's Guide to Now, Dr Aleks Krotoski asks University of Cambridge's Dr Amy Orben whether screens mess with ours - and our kids' - heads. Her most recent research looked at the impact of screens on wellbeing, and discovered some surprising results. Aleks then turns to The Guardian's computer games correspondent and best-selling novelist Keith Stuart about what he lets his 11 and 14 year olds play, and asks for advice on quality games that kids of all ages will enjoy.