Where'd the Adults Go?
Fuck Zoom - productive remote calls don't exist. Forget Uber - remember when your friends and family picked you up from the airport? Leave Twitter - it's a squawk box where the loudest person wins.
Remember when your parents lectured you "turn off the TV" or "put the video games away and go outside"? Fast forward 10-years. Our problem today is our parents are no better - they're raging on Twitter and doom-scrolling Facebook like the high schoolers we once were. Where's the adult in the room?
Christmas 2022
I sat across the kitchen table from my dad. The chandelier was dimmed and the upstairs shower pitter-pattered. Neighbors and relatives left. My mom and sister retreated to their rooms. I looked at him, smiled - we sank into our chairs a little deeper, just enjoying each other's silence and company.
My eyes squinted and head bobbed, ready for sleep - but then a flash of light caught the corner of my eye. Then another. And another. I glanced over and my heart immediately sank - there was my dad, neck craned, eyes locked into his phone. His thumb - flick, flick, flicked rhythmically. His eyes - blink, blink, blinked concurrently. Bill Burr barked up at him from the screen. The edges of my dad's mouth curled in amusement. Then once again - flick, blink, flick, blink.
I didn't say anything, just observed. A few minutes later, I excused myself from the table and went to bed. I obviously haven't forgotten. The memory makes me sick - not at my dad, but at where our world is headed.
Perhaps I'm being selfish - but, I'm home twice per year and enjoy just being with my dad. So when he pulls out Instagram and starts scrolling like a 12-year-old, I've got to ask: where'd the adults go?
This instance isn't unique. I've probably seen your grandma on Facebook, too. Our public's mind is rotting rancid, and there's nobody to help us course-correct.
Accelerating Trends
Fuck Zoom - productive remote calls don't exist. Forget Uber - remember when your friends and family picked you up from the airport? Leave Twitter - it's a squawk box where the loudest person wins.
We were trending towards these realities pre-pandemic. Then COVID swapped our spades for shovels as we continue to dig our own graves.
It's impossible to point a single finger at any one company and say "it's your fault." It's the culmination of technologies that, like Clorox, disinfect life of its human touch.
Analogies like "Clorox disinfecting life" have deeper truths. For example, we know it kills 99.9% of germs - both good and bad. But there's a reason why you have your kid go play outside and roll in the dirt, and it's the same reason why industries like "the microbiome" are gaining momentum.
I've been at SXSW all week and have noticed audiences heads down, shoulders slouched, stuck in their phones. During 2 different panels I sat next to someone swiping on Amazon promotions for UGG boots... and we're in Austin, TX where it never snows!
I'm 24 and this isn't the world I want to grow into. Technology promises ideals, but at what point are we regressing? Where do we draw the line?
The Green Stripe Paradox
Imagine everybody in the world is 1 of 3 colors - red, yellow or green. Your color represents your openness to the world around you. If you're red you're closed - you don't enjoy conversing with strangers. If you're yellow, you're indifferent. If you're green you're open - you enjoy interacting with those around you.
Ask yourself "what color am I?" Probably green.
Then ask yourself "what colors are those around me?" Looking around the coffee shop as I write this, people are heads down, headphones in - all I see are yellows and reds.
That's the Green Stripe Paradox - people self-identify green, but they see yellows and reds. There's a massive chasm between self-perception and reality, largely driven by the technologies and habits we mindlessly accept into our lives.
What I'm Working On
I'm solving the Green Stripe Paradox. Our world is isolated - remote work and social echo chambers are deceptively pulling people apart. Mental health problems are at an all-time high and only accelerating as AI automates our day-to-day. If you want a steady, well-paying job in 10-years, go be a therapist.
We can't make our headaches - Zoom, Uber, Twitter - disappear. So the question is: "How can we create alternatives that bring people together with our phones?" This is the most important question nobody is asking.
Candy Bars
Joe Montana used to eat Snickers during halftime of his football games for a sugar spike. Then in 1990 we came to consciousness, just briefly, slapped nutrition labels on packaged food, and only then began to ask what went into our bodies.
Protein bars became a market in and of themselves. They nail taste (I prefer a Quest Chocolate Chip protein bar to Snickers) and solve the nutrition label problem by boasting "14g of dietary fiber" and just "1g" of sugar.
I imagine social networks will evolve similarly. Facebook = Snickers. It gives you a sugar high. We consume content just as we consume food. I'm waiting for regulations and labels around mobile app consumption, but not holding my breath either.
The next great social network won't be a technological innovation - like TikTok's hyper-addictive newsfeed. It'll be a storytelling one - how can we use phones to reconnect in an authentic way? We've seen that people want to express their authentic selves - BeReal was the first major attempt, but there's better competitors to come.
A steak will always trump Quest bars and Snickers. The same is true for human connection. The best answer is organic interaction. But in our world of increasing tech dependency, we need alternatives to Facebook that bring people together.
My friend Griffin and I are building that paradigm-shifting app. We make it easy to share what you're doing with your friends and family who matter most. I'll announce major product updates (rebuild + rebrand) in a couple weeks and am optimistic for the road we're forging ahead.