The world is drowning in information, exponential growth, and well, exponential noise. And as people consume more and more information, it becomes harder and harder to create a coherent story from the barrage. We need stories, as author Yuval Harari mentions:
The real difference between us and chimpanzees is the mysterious glue that enables millions of humans to cooperate effectively.
This mysterious glue is made of stories, not genes.
And in another video, he adds quite explicitly,
“The wider your horizons, the more difficult it is to find a story that gives meaning to your life.”
Lack of a good story means a lack of meaning, and the result is poorer mental health.
Creators will address this, like they address every other problem – by creating products to handle the noise. And this is happening, check out the chart below from CB insights.
Seems to be slowing in 2017, but I expect this trend to grow stronger over time (even if financing slows, the usage of such apps will increase). More and more people will go to these apps, these will help people in becoming calm by helping people to meditate and live in the moment.
But the brutal reality of mental difficulties due to information explosion are of course here to stay.
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