How will the loneliness epidemic impact employers?

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2021-06-09 07:00:07

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One of my research interests is how the workforce is changing in the Digital Covid Age. Less about employment statistics, and more around where people find financial security, belonging, and sense of purpose.

Our needs are fairly consistent, but how we fulfil them is swirling around in an age of streaming money, tiktokification, and masks.

A few years ago, I heard Alain de Botton explain that platforms need to fulfil deep-seated problems. The challenge to entrepreneurs was to solve problems higher up the hierarchy of needs.

If the 2010s were about people’s need for ‘status’ online — manifesting in curated Instagram feeds and filtered selfies — then the 2020s are about people’s need for ‘belonging’.

the commodification of intimacy — an example with online relationships with OnlyFans creators becoming replacements for real-life intimacy.