Life+ Meets: Noga from Reflect (2/3)
This is the first of a three-part interview with Noga from Reflect Innovations. Join us as we learn about the inspiration behind her first product, Reflect, her thoughts on how wellness works and whether tech can be a help or a hindrance when managing stress.
You’re reading Part 2, but you also listen to our Podcast!
— One of the things that reflect does is occupy both of your hands to touch a ball, which means you can’t touch any screens!
Yes! We are surrounded by screens and buttons and keyboards and swiping. I wanted the tactile experience to be captivating enough that you put your phone away for a while. Reflect has an app, but I didn’t want the experience to be tied directly to your phone.
— You mentioned children had a nice experience with Reflect. I guess children don’t express stress in the same way as we do. What did you find from interacting with them?
It started way back in an exhibition at a school. Parents wanted to give Reflect to their children because it looks basic and has a pleasing interface. It looks very inviting and curious to touch! I think parents really want to understand what’s going on with their child, and children don’t always know how to express stress.
— Do you have a target demographic for the product?
Definitely. We’re going to start with the people that I mentioned before, who already are into mindfulness, because they are the ‘lowest hanging fruit’.
However we’re definitely looking into ways to grow from that initial group. The nice thing about the wellness space is that you don’t need to explain to people that stress is bad and unhealthy for you. The thing is, they may not know what to do with that stress, or they don’t have the time. So we try to lower those barriers for them. People who may not have time or money to go to meditation classes can do this and have a similar experience at home when they need it.
In the future, we hope to reach out to people who are very stressed but don’t yet know that they are.
— Have you watched the Social Dilemma by the way?
Yes! First of all, Tristan Harris is one of my idols and I have been following everything he does. I was following the Centre for Humane Technology a while before the movie came out. I think he’s so right, and I agree that we’re in an unfair battle.
We all know that social networks might be infringing on our privacy and hindering our mental health. But at this point, it’s unfair. We don’t have the power to disconnect anymore. They have all this information on us in very deep cerebral ways to affect our behaviour. I think I’m trying to be in that technology space that takes technology into the realm of wellness and well being, but also into the realm of it’s yours to control. I expect Reflect to be there for you when needed. I don’t want you to be dependent on it. I want it to be there for you, as an anchor if you needed to use it, I don’t need you to use it every day, twice a day.
— What are the things you keep in mind as a founder in designing that kind of experience?
We’re not in the market yet so I don’t have concrete plans right now. But I do think about how to make Reflect available for anyone who needs it, and how we can reach the people who need it. There’s definitely going to be some market education that we need to do.
Some products in the startup space are developing solutions to problems. But I think at this point, Reflect is not something you see and say, “Oh cool, I know what it is”. So it’s going to take time to reach people.
I think the benefit is that a great conversation can emerge. Being able to talk about mental health is something that a few years ago might not have been that accepted. That’s already half the battle. Now we need to move forward to help do something about stress and making a calming experience available at your fingertips.
— We talked about ‘taboo’ earlier, why do you think there are certain things which are still ‘taboo’ for us to talk about?
That’s a great question. First of all, I think it’s a generational thing. Gen Z and millennials would probably be more open to talk about their mental health. In the past, it’s been perceived as an admission of failure, or not being mentally resilient.
In a way, everyone hides their pain, stress and suffering. If you have a physical medical condition- that may be harder to hide, but if you have depression or anxiety you’re supposed to act as normal to the rest of the world. But I think because younger people are more sharing on social media it’s different.
It’s finally becoming okay to talk about not being okay. I never liked hiding what I’m going through, I’m a ‘sharing’ person. But you do think, what if people judge me, or if I talk, that they will think that something’s wrong with me.
We’re at a point now where we can talk about mental health and see other strangers share similar experiences.
For instance, I don’t have kids, but I think a few years ago, you couldn’t say anything bad about being a parent and struggling with your child because you’re not supposed to be. Just recently, people started talking about their experiences which are sometimes very hard and challenging. I think in the end, it’s going to benefit all of us to be able to talk about where we struggle and see that other people are going through the same thing is very encouraging.
Anything is rarely binary, good or bad. I think if we go back to the Social Dilemma, there’s a whole thing around, social media bringing so much comfort, but also so much pain. It’s very human in a way.
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If you enjoyed this, check out
Part 3: Life+ Meets: Noga…How can a wellness company work… well?
