Interesting Things to Build in The Future Part 2: Longing for Belonging
This is part two of my three-part blog on what I think the future looks like. With all of the recent advances in AI, with the move to remote work, and with the aging out of the boomer generation and their social norms, I think we are on the brink of a huge cultural shift, which will affect everything and provide a lot of exciting opportunities for today’s startups. I have broken my thoughts into three separate pieces, covering three overarching trends I am excited about. The first post talked about the increase in free time, this post will discuss our longing for belonging and the third will focus on the future of content.
Welcome to part 2:
Longing for Belonging
Loneliness has been a hot topic for the past couple of months after Harvard published this study, which showed that 61% of young people aged 18–25 reported feeling seriously lonely.
There seem to be three things driving most of the loneliness. I break them out individually, but primarily they can be bucketed into the fact that over the last couple of years, our society has moved in a way that has eliminated many of our built-in communities.
- The pandemic
- Decrease in religion
- Hybrid work
The pandemic was horrible for many reasons, but one of the hardest parts for people was the upheaval of our daily social activities. We were locked in our houses, forced to self-entertain, and ripped from the communities we had built. Quarantine has ended, but given the prolonged period spent alone, many re-emerged with increased social anxiety, making it harder for them to rebuild ties they had formed before the pandemic.
In addition to the pandemic, there has been a dramatic pullback in religious participation over the last decade. In 2020, 30% of Americans identified as not religious, up from 12% in 2007. If these trends continue, Pew Research estimates that over 50% of Americans will identify as not religious by 2070.
I am not here to talk about religion, but there is no denying its community-building effects and ability to make people feel like a part of something bigger. By removing religion from our lives, we have lost a sense of community that was separate from other aspects of our lives, and it has left a void that must be filled.
Finally, with the shift towards a more hybrid work environment, we have eliminated the social nature of work for young adults. It is harder to make new friends through your work experience.
Over the last decade, we have decimated every built-in community for adults. Once kids leave college, there are so few organized social groups. Nowhere are you forced to socialize and make friends.
The effects of this increase in loneliness are unclear, but I want to make a couple of hypotheses. First, I think it drives people to demand more from the brands they support. A decade ago, people bought from brands because they had a quality product at a reasonable price. But today, 82% of shoppers want a consumer brand’s values to align with their own and will boycott brands that do not. (Harris Poll research commissioned by Google Cloud).
I believe this is because people are desperately searching for ways to self-identify. By aligning themselves with a brand that holds values, they can join some sort of community of like-minded individuals. This pressure on brands has had some very positive effects, but at the end of the day, it is a brand’s job to make money, and in a world where values are held firmly and constantly shifting, it is a challenging position for brands to navigate.
In addition to the pressure on brands, the increase in loneliness could be behind the increased demand for in-real-life events of concerts. Concert ticket prices have exploded over the last year, which could be due to pent-up demand from the pandemic, but I think the longing for community is also a significant driver. According to a survey by Eventbrite, 95% of respondents said that live events give them a sense of community, and 78% said that they attend events to feel connected to others. This is further supported by a study commissioned by Ticketmaster, which found that 56% of respondents said attending live events makes them feel less lonely.
Finally, the desire for belonging has led to a revolt against legacy social media platforms. People have begun to realize that Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok often leave us feeling more lonely. We are through what I am starting to believe was the “easy part” of social apps. Over the last 15 years, apps that primarily fed off our seven deadly sins have popped up. In Rex Woodbury’s blog, The Digital Native, he explains it as:
In 2011, Reid Hoffman declared, “Social networks do best when they tap into one of the seven deadly sins.” Ever since, people have built on his framework, often using the same tried-and-true examples: Facebook as Envy, Tinder as Lust, GrubHub as Gluttony. (Hoffman is the founder of LinkedIn, itself a mix of Pride and Greed.)
I would expand Hoffman’s statement to encompass consumer companies writ large. And I like his framework because it captures a key truth: human behavior is the engine of consumerism, capitalism, and culture. What’s more, human behavior doesn’t really change. Yes, each generation brings new ideas and worldviews, but we’re all fundamentally the same, shaped by millions of years of evolution: we all get angry; we all get jealous; we all need to feel respected.
This has increased division and loneliness and has affected our mental health and the mental health of children that nobody seems genuinely aware of. The next generation has already started to revolt away from these legacy platforms, as you can see with the rise of apps like BeReal.
Given these trends, there are three buckets that I am interested in.
Re-emergence of “fan clubs”
While forcing a brand to stand for your values seems unfair, fan clubs could be a more sustainable way to satisfy consumers’ desire to feel like a part of a community.
When the internet first took off, fan clubs were everywhere. I was in one for Bow Wow, the Sixers, and Batman. The clubs were nothing special, often just a chat room, but people wanted to communicate with other die-hard fans because it gave them a sense of belonging. I think we see fan clubs return for all types of artists, sports teams, and even hobbies. Clubs of people with a shared interest let you socialize outside your day-to-day activities.
Web3 seems to be where most people are building around this idea. The technology largely got swept up in the crypto craze of 2020/2021, but I believe there is something here. In the future, there will be more ways for people to prove their community involvement and socialize with like-minded individuals. These will likely include plenty of IRL events.
Rise in casual sports among adults
Many young adults in major cities used to spend their time at work, then at a bar or restaurant. With hybrid work, people struggle to make new friends, and bars are great but not necessarily the easiest place to foster a lasting relationship. To complement the social scene, I predict we will see a continued rise in casual sports like Pickleball. Activities like this release dopamine and let you feel like a part of a team.
This opens opportunities for more social clubs like Soho House, focused on activities and hyper-local social networks. Companies like Conquer are already building in this space.
Next generation of social media
A new generation of social apps will emerge as people search for platforms to provide more meaningful connections. This includes apps like BeReal and SnapChat. The platforms will focus on making users feel part of something larger. I think it will likely focus on groups created based on shared interests, similar geographic locations, or professional goals.
Social apps are tough, but a couple of ones seem to be gaining traction, including Conquer, which I mentioned above; Geneva, which focuses on community enablement; and Saturday, which does an excellent job in facilitating IRL meet-ups.
Thank you for making it this far! If you are working on something in this space, I would love to chat. I will be back with part 3 shortly.
