sadly, up. i think we've gotten so accustomed to not having to look anyone in the eye (starbucks mobile ordering, doordash leave at the door, etc) that we actively avoid it. & though we're looking to add a bit of friction and intentionality to their life, it's usually limited to areas that can be leveraged for status. no one is looking to have their amazon packages take longer, but interest in hard to reach travel destinations is increasing.
This is a great point - artisanal IRL grocery shopping can’t really be leveraged for status.
Probably two camps of people - those that outsource as much as their life away as possible and those that try to grasp any sense of normalcy very tightly.
Tbh tho I think it might go down in 2025 but maybe I’m being too optimistic lol, this might be a longer term response to automation overreach (I.e., “smart” refrigerators that re-order your food for you when you’re running low probably won’t become a thing)
for awhile i was trying to write some unifying intro to tie the entire report together, and though there are megatrends, i kept running into the fact of bifurcation. we're seeing that k-shaped recovery we were warned of post covid play out across every facet of life.
Regarding emails as valuable currency -- I am very curious to see how substack and others handle a rise of AI agents.
It seems to me like we'll need something much stricter than Captcha to prevent a flood of AI-generated content on platforms like this. Perhaps it means substack will start charging creators some money to distribute, perhaps it means more biometric verification or something
If i was smarter / richer / more motivated i'd start a company around this
strong point. i suppose the lazy solution is to say “the algorithm will handle it”. our internal slop detectors will be so attuned that those posts just won’t get traction, sorta like the twitter coded copy-paste notes that flop.
Would love to hear more about your "no-phone zones as premium spaces" take :) do you see this being co-opted in any new contexts, beyond clubs and cafés? do you see any brands leaning into this?
thought-provoking question. a good friend of mine runs a supper series in NYC. they're hosting an upcoming event at a listening bar that has a no-phone rule, which is great on its own, but to ratchet it up, he's challenging guests to leave their phones at home and navigate there sans phone, mapquest style.
so yes, i think more brands will lean into this more. it's a delicate dance though.
Loved this post and as a fellow Polish passport holder had a sudden wtf moment at the end
hah! i'm hoping that 2025 is the year that open-faced sandwiches get a hard launch in the US. they've been overlooked for too long.
yeah the world should YEARN for them. American sandwiches are sooo bready
1000%
Love it! The 4 day workweek needs to happen.
substacking it into existence
Fire piece - love the yogurt prediction. Made with love is so back in 2025, and outsourcing your life in order to work is a relic of the past.
Curious - do you think the amount of online grocery shopping will go up or down in 2025?
sadly, up. i think we've gotten so accustomed to not having to look anyone in the eye (starbucks mobile ordering, doordash leave at the door, etc) that we actively avoid it. & though we're looking to add a bit of friction and intentionality to their life, it's usually limited to areas that can be leveraged for status. no one is looking to have their amazon packages take longer, but interest in hard to reach travel destinations is increasing.
This is a great point - artisanal IRL grocery shopping can’t really be leveraged for status.
Probably two camps of people - those that outsource as much as their life away as possible and those that try to grasp any sense of normalcy very tightly.
Tbh tho I think it might go down in 2025 but maybe I’m being too optimistic lol, this might be a longer term response to automation overreach (I.e., “smart” refrigerators that re-order your food for you when you’re running low probably won’t become a thing)
100% agreed re: the two camps of people.
for awhile i was trying to write some unifying intro to tie the entire report together, and though there are megatrends, i kept running into the fact of bifurcation. we're seeing that k-shaped recovery we were warned of post covid play out across every facet of life.
This was excellent
Regarding emails as valuable currency -- I am very curious to see how substack and others handle a rise of AI agents.
It seems to me like we'll need something much stricter than Captcha to prevent a flood of AI-generated content on platforms like this. Perhaps it means substack will start charging creators some money to distribute, perhaps it means more biometric verification or something
If i was smarter / richer / more motivated i'd start a company around this
strong point. i suppose the lazy solution is to say “the algorithm will handle it”. our internal slop detectors will be so attuned that those posts just won’t get traction, sorta like the twitter coded copy-paste notes that flop.
Would love to hear more about your "no-phone zones as premium spaces" take :) do you see this being co-opted in any new contexts, beyond clubs and cafés? do you see any brands leaning into this?
thought-provoking question. a good friend of mine runs a supper series in NYC. they're hosting an upcoming event at a listening bar that has a no-phone rule, which is great on its own, but to ratchet it up, he's challenging guests to leave their phones at home and navigate there sans phone, mapquest style.
so yes, i think more brands will lean into this more. it's a delicate dance though.
That's a fabulous idea by your friend, what's the name of his supper series?
I recently wrote about this no-phone trend as I think it's definitely going places this year (https://mutantfutures.substack.com/p/003)
enjoyed the read!
conveniently titled: a supper series — www.instagram.com/asupperseries
I didn't understand more than 10% of what you wrote but this landed for me
> hustle porn 2.0 — short sprints of intentional, highly effective AI-aided efforts will be glorified rather than bozos pulling 80-hour work weeks.
hahah, glad that part hit for you. the piece is indeed coded for a certain type of person, and unapologetically so.