What we’re about
You're social but lonely.
You're not sure you like this app.
You're hungry for a culture or a tribe that accepts you, but you're not sure you like "groups" enough to seek one out.
There's a private world inside you no one else gets to see.
You feel the things we call friendships are shallow and superficial, and if you can't be yourself, you'd much rather be alone.
You're cynical about socializing, but a social person at heart.
Sometimes you feel like you were born on the wrong planet, or in the wrong part of history.
Either way, something's wrong.
You're not really sure what you're looking for here, but you're sure about one thing: You're not here for smalltalk, you're here because you're sad.
Because the hole in your life isn't shaped like a weekly meetup, it's shaped like a real community, and that's something you've never had.
Sound like you?
It sounds like us too.
We have no name, no flag, no march, and no identity that unites us except a shared feeling of absence of all of the above. And the desire to fix that, for ourselves and for others.
Tight-knit groups of all forms have been disappearing for decades.
To see just how bad this problem has become, the recent Netflix documentary "Join or Die," based on Robert Putnam's classic book Bowling Alone, is worth watching. (The founder of Meetup is in that documentary, and he mentions that Bowling Alone was one of the reasons he made this app.)
So, down to business. What's this group about?
This is a group for people who are tired of complaining, and ready to start working on solutions to these problems.
We'll be meeting up as often as we can, to discuss this problem with people who want to solve it.
We'll meet over coffee in the mornings, or over drinks in the afternoon.
We're open to all ideas and all people, from any age or sex or political tribe, but we're looking specifically for people who want to focus on one problem: How to fix the problems of loneliness and social isolation in modern society.
Whether you have ideas or not, if you're interested in the problem, you're always welcome to join.
We're united in the belief that the breakdown of community is a solvable problem.
And we believe it can be solved without making any large scale changes to modern society, or human nature, or somehow getting rid of smartphones.
We're a meta-group. We're interested in groups. The things that create them and destroy them. The things that make them strong or break them apart.
We're not business people, but we think the solution may involve starting a certain kind of business, one that doesn't exist yet. We know nothing about business, but we think we'll eventually need to start one. Because that's the only way we know of to work on this problem full time.
If you've read this far, we'd like to meet you.
Society is broken.
We need your help to fix it.
We'll post meeting times and places here, but you can find the same information on our website:
P.S. Wherever and whenever we meet up, we have only one rule:
- No one is allowed to buy anything for themselves.
If you want some coffee, or a sandwich, or a beer, or an Uber home: talk to another member. They'll get yours, and you can get theirs. Don't sweat the asymmetries. It's better for a group when we owe each other stuff.
