Merit badges vs big tech (fighting for a more humane society)

I was never a boy scout - in any sense of the term. I'm not sure I even knew anyone who was. However, I've been thinking about their merit badge system lately. You can find the list here: https://www.scouting.org/skills/merit-badges/all/

I wrote about and linked to a couple substack reads from Ted Gioia "The Honest Broker" awhile back. He recently wrote again about How To Break Free From Dopamine Culture. Why should we do that? As he says...

 If you look at the 10 largest companies in the world, half of them are trying to create this addictive relationship to technology. The days when the dealer in addiction had to hide in the shadows are over. They now operate freely in your home, and every other sphere of your life...

These businesses are obsessed with controlling users in the most manipulative ways possible. This is not the purpose of tech. It has never been the purpose of tech - which should empower and enhance our lives, not force us into digital bondage.

He offers five suggestions for combating this in our lives:

1. minimize your reliance on scrolling and swiping
2. go out into the world and discover what real applications look like
   
3. pursue immersive experiences in music (and other things)
4. celebrate rituals (both family and community)
5. only connect (with others)

Number two above is where merit badges fit in. One thing he says, as well as David Brooks in his book How to Know A Person, is that people simply don't know HOW to do things anymore. And it's not just kids. In fact, as Brooks says, "Some days it seems like we have intentionally built a society that gives people little guidance on how to perform the most important activities of life."

So, what if we had something like merit badges not just for Boy Scouts, and not just for kids, but for EVERYONE?? And, I know, I know... there are pitfalls to the whole performance-based system stuff... but we seem in danger of losing the very essence of what it means be human, and how societies should function. 

I'm just trying to find some ideas... for myself as much as anybody...