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Jun 2713 min read

Navigating the Future of Social Connectivity: A Blend of Real and Virtual Worlds

Updated: Sep 25



Discover the evolving landscape of social networks and how technology is reshaping our means of connection. In a lively discussion, we examine the interplay between traditional and digital networking, exploring what it means to form and maintain relationships in a world increasingly dominated by virtual interactions. We wonder: will future social networks require 'human-only' spaces? And who gets to decide the boundaries between our digital and physical lives? We also discuss ways to deepen our communal ties through concepts like micro-solidarity, mutual aid, and decentralized communities. Listen to hear some thought-provoking ideas on how we might continue to connect in an increasingly digital world.





Selected Links:







  • Microsolidarity: a community-building practice weaving the social fabric that underpins shared infrastructure, www.microsolidarity.cc/


Episode Transcript:

This transcript was computer-generated and human-edited and might contain errors. 


Lana: Welcome to Signal Shift by Horizon Shift Lab. We’re your hosts, Lana Price, Raakhee Natha, and Sue Chi. Each episode, we explore the latest signals—in technology, culture, and society—uncovering insights that will impact our daily lives in the future. Join us as we shift perspectives, explore possibilities, and delve into real changes in our world. Curious to learn more? Go to horizonshiftlab.com. 


Ok, hello and welcome. Today's episode is about the future of social networks and networking —essentially, how we form and maintain relationships for mutual benefit. So, anything from traditional in-person networking events to online platforms, we're exploring the different ways that we connect, build community, exchange resources, and how they're evolving. 

Ok, Sue, go ahead.


Sue: All right. Thanks, Lana. So, this week, I wanted to pick up on a couple of themes we talked about in the past. One is this kind of lack of third spaces that we just have as gathering spots to meet other people, and the other is also the opposite of that, which is just this epidemic of loneliness that we've been experiencing, especially with older generations as well. 


And so I wanted to see what the impact of having this eventual immersive reality or augmented reality space, what that could be. Is it bad, or is it good for people to get together? The signal that I found was based on an initial idea that I had just to see: are people gathering in these spaces? And I found a very surprising article from a while ago that said the people who are the biggest fans of the metaverse may actually be your moms. It talked about a group of women in their 60s who found a fitness program on Oculus that talked about them getting together, they could go to do aerobics on the Great Wall of China. They could meet in all these places and exercise. It was a healthy way to do this. They never talked about being fans of the metaverse or anything like that. It was just a space that they really liked being in. 


So, I wanted to go down that line of thinking, and I saw this study that just came out from Cornell. A group of scientists are launching a study that wants to understand social engagement in augmented reality. And so, the name of the study is called SERVE; it's the Social Engaging Restorative Virtual Environment project. It's a mouthful, but it basically wants to study VR and the impact it has on loneliness and social isolation, especially in older adults. It just started; it's a five-year study. So, we're not going to know the results until 2028, but they have a control group and an intervention group.


There's an intervention group that will be meeting in spatial VR, and they will be doing things like getting together and doing activities, so they might be sightseeing in a city in virtual reality. They could be visiting a museum together. They could also be doing things like designing a garden in a virtual reality space. The scientists expect that they will see that the intervention group, this will actually decrease the feelings of social isolation and loneliness and have some additional socio-emotional benefits to it, but we won't see it until 2028 at least with this study. 


I thought it was just interesting because when I think about VR, I've naturally thought about younger people, younger generations gathering in these spaces and what it might be like for them as they grow up, so to see signs right now of what older generations are experiencing may be a precursor to what we may be feeling in a decade or two from now as we get older and how we use these VR spaces. 


It gives me hope because the technology will continue to advance, and so, since there are social scientists studying this right now, I hope that as this evolves, their discoveries and findings will be further integrated so that the advancement of tech won't increase our isolation but will somehow actually integrate it better in the future. 


So, yeah, I was just, this image I had of seeing my own mom trying to get her to try out Apple Vision Pro. And her being extremely scared of it, but on the other hand, when we went through it, we could see, especially with some of the spatial technology around the photos and videos, her getting super into it. So all of a sudden, she could feel closer through these experiences with, especially family members who don't live close by, that she could see. Almost like see and feel more frequently.


[5:22]


Lana: Love that. I think also the accessibility of it, for…  if you think about folks who might be homebound or less able to get out, get around, meet up with people. So, I love that aspect of it, too. In addition to the things that you said, it really turns on its head the idea of technology only being for the young, for the digital natives, so that's very very cool.


Raakhee: I think these things like, even with Apple Vision Pro, and they're trying to incorporate being able to have those avatars of people in other places but showing up very real in your environment. The technology is getting better and better, so it is such a really immersive experience. But the reality also is we're going to be an aging, elderly population primarily over the coming years, so it's very hopeful.


Sue: That's such a great point, and so yeah, I would hope that the kinds of apps and programs that are becoming available are also catered to older generations, not just say Gen Alpha, for example. And so it made me smile when I saw, and I came across that article showing that this group of 60-year-old moms are getting together on fitness and figuring out how to travel through, even though they don't really know what it is, they're not explaining it as super into virtual reality or anything like that. The language and how we talk about these experiences in the future, maybe it's just a blend of your day-to-day. It's not, "I'm gonna go into the metaverse," or "I'm living in the metaverse." It's just, "I worked out today with my friends. Where did you do it? I did it in Supernatural." Just like you would say, "I went for a walk in the park with my friends." It's gonna be the same.


Lana: Great point. Yeah, Raakhee, how about you? What did you find related to the topic?


[7:36]


Raakhee: And it's interesting. It's a play off the reality of exactly what Sue's kind of, I think, ended that note on, right? Which is, we will socially exist in digital worlds and it'll just be the norm. We won't even call it out. And I think that's gonna happen a lot, but I think my signal points to the fact that I think that's gonna lead to a different type of need around social networking. 


So, I'll take a step back and say, one, yes, we're gonna exist in a more digital world of engagement; two, I think we're gonna see the prevalence of social robots more. I mean, there's amazing things being done in that space. And whether it's at the train station and suddenly that becomes a social robot, or whether it's tutors for kids in school, right? There's an element of human connection that is gonna be taken away with customer service. It's the norm now, it's like, ok, we know we're gonna be speaking to chatbots, but I think it's gonna happen in more layers of society and we're going to interact a lot more digitally, usually with a lot more people around the world.


And I think that fosters certain types of connection, and it's good in all those ways. But there is that question around just human to human connection, just for the need of that. And I think what we might find is we'll have a wave where there's more robots, there’s more social robots. There's more of bringing that into our lives, but there'll be a second wave of saying, where do we create separate spaces that are humans only? Will there be networking events that are like, only humans allowed? No technology, literally, like we see leaving your phone at the door. And I think a lot of things will fuel that, right, privacy, but just needing that break from interacting with a robot the way I need to interact with the robot. I just want to be with the human who might get certain things a certain way, right? About engaging with them. So then we might see that kind of thing, or cafes that are like, human-only hour. You get a happy hour, right? So human-only hour is only humans and no tech. And I think we might see similar with nature also, only being in natural spaces and keeping technology out of them for at least periods of time. So, I don't know. Let's see if that happens, but I think we could see that sort of thing happening with how we network and engage.


Sue: I had this premonition of thinking about engaging in this blended space and not knowing if my friend online was real or not. And so to know that you've got a human-only space, you can say, okay, these people are real, they exist, and there's this other space where it might be a blend of avatars of all kinds, and it's okay. You can have friends that way. It made me think, there's almost like this concept of your childhood imaginary friend, but now you're an adult and they're actually living in the digital world, which was a bit mind-blowing for me. I couldn't go there. 


Yeah, I do think having some of these spaces will be incredibly important as humans. The question is who gets to decide how that happens. Is it up to us? Are there going to be intentional spaces? Is there going to be policy created around it? It's a very good question.


Lana: These are interesting questions from your findings, Raakhee. Yeah, it reminds me of the slow grocery movement, where there's the blowback from having the automated checkout line. And so now people want to chat with their checkout person and go really slow and have a conversation with them. So it's sort of that, but on a bigger scale. I love that image of humans-only events. It seems radical right now, but I think the way that you laid it, it's entirely possible. Very very cool, very imaginative.


Raakhee: Yeah, I think it raises a lot of questions exactly like Sue's posed and you posed, Lana, about who decides, how we set that up. I'm sure there will be groups that will be like -- that's not fair or right, that's an injustice to the technology. But yeah, I think that there's definitely bigger questions, but I could see us heading in that route.


Sue: I think there is a movie plot based on this? Right, of the rights for AI versus the humans. I don't know if it was the movie "AI." But anyway, I feel like there was a movie plot around this before.


Raakhee: Yeah, it sounds vaguely familiar. So I think it's somewhere out there.


[12:47]


Lana: Also, I'd like to share the approach that I took. Yeah, I was just doing some research on opinions about the future of social media and social networks. And I think it's fair to say, there's definitely a growing consensus that social media as we know it now has peaked; it's become less social and more like a vehicle for advertising. Right? And so, this next wave being smaller and decentralized social networks. 


So, there are a couple of examples of this that have caught my attention. One is a concept that's called micro-solidarity. It's a framework for building high trust, mutual aid communities, and it's by Richard Bartlett, who put out this book on it. It's basically like: you start with a small group of three to four people, and you're committed to supporting each other's goals. And then you grow that into larger gatherings and deeper relationships, like co-working or co-living, and really kind of challenging the norms of individualism. It’s really emphasizing how one can initiate to co-create a decentralized and very intentional social network in almost these little pods, and then those can grow bigger and bigger.


But another similar, and I thought very compelling idea, is found in this book called "The Hologram," and it's by the artist Cassie Thornton. It's a feminist peer-to-peer health system. So, the idea is that you have four people. The person in the middle is the “hologram,” and then the other three form a triangle and they are like your care team. So, you have one person who focuses on your mental health, another on your physical health, and the third on your social health. And so your care team commits to checking in with you for a period of time, let's say a year; you meet with your peers to share how you're feeling. And then that hologram is also on a care team for someone else. So, it's basically spreading this network. They saw this in Greece during the pandemic. 


I thought that was super interesting about valuing collective care over individualism, and again highly decentralized. And so some of this, it's like what's old is new again. Right? I think a lot of these concepts have been around for a long time, but just digital tools can aid in that, but it's also less about being owned by a corporate space. It's folks figuring out in these sort of small groups, forming very intimate and intentional connections.


Sue: Lana, I'm curious about the hologram idea. You have three different personal connections to work on your social, emotional, and physical health, and then you've got a hologram, so that's kind of like an AI?


Lana: No, sorry, the hologram -- that's just the term for the person in the middle. But yeah, so they could be already in your network. But then those people, right, might not be in a network together. So then they become friends or become part of this care group. And I mean, one of the ideas from the book was, would it be like to ask someone: can you commit to this for a longer period? Can you do a 10-year commitment? 


I think it's very countercultural for us, right? Even the idea of committing for a year might seem like a lot. But this idea of being like, can we look out for each other, would you consider a 10-year engagement? That's a very interesting, I think, radically deep relationship from the outset.


Raakhee: Yeah. It's almost an evolution of the coaching model. We've seen it expand, you have group coaching, much more easily accessible coaching and chatbots coaching, and then it's bringing it back and saying maybe we just do that for each other. It's an easy enough skill to build, but you're right, Lana. I think the thing that comes up for me is, it is so countercultural. It just fights against the sense of individualism, even of thinking, if I have challenges, I should be dealing with that with a help practitioner or taking it to somebody professional. I feel like it's burdensome, if I'm burdening my friends and my family if they had to take on those roles, so yeah, it feels very counterculture. It feels very different.


Lana: Yeah, and I think that's definitely part of the point, is to break out of individualism. We have to start to get more comfortable with asking for help, and then offering, also, to help others who are in need. And so that's the skill, as well as listening, right? The coaching sort of skills that are involved and I think that's why one of the rules of it is that you have to be in at least two. So you have to be in one that you're receiving, and you also have to be in someone's care team. So I think that makes a lot of sense for that reason.


[19:33]


Sue: This draws a parallel in my head to the futures-thinking space. Because if you think of some of the ways we frame the future, right, you're thinking about yourself at least 10 years into the future. But if part of the idea about building a future is that it takes more than just you. Having a group of friends, or almost some kind of, not really an accountability partner per se, but someone who's there to co-create and support you into this future version of you, that sounds pretty great. 

And so, yeah, when you first said 10 years, I immediately was like-- that's a long time, but if you design it saying, "This is the version of me I want to build, whether it's health-wise or what goals you have, will you support me in doing this this way?" Sure, sign me up. So yeah, I really like it. 


And I also like the idea that you've been talking about with the pods. It links nicely with what Raakhee has been talking about as well in that, in the future, I feel like grounding is going to be so important as you may question what is real and what is not. To have those group of three to five people you know, and you've gone through a lot of stuff with them, saying, "Wait, hold up. Is this not, let me go check back with my pod to make sure everything's okay." Maybe that's something we'll all need in the future as well.


Raakhee: Sue, when you say 'real,' I think the one thing we will also do with digital avatars is they'll be too perfect. The digital world is going to be so unflawed because that's what we do, right, that’s what we create. But we know that being human is about the flaws, and I think sometimes you'll have to step back from that to be like, "Wow. Let me see what people actually look like in the real world. How do we dress in the real world?" and to have that sense of reality.


Lana: So true. I can definitely see all of these coming together. You can have your workout on the Great Wall digitally with your friends, but then be in an human-only space. And then, maybe with your close group that you've known for a long time. I really love the blending of the future, stepping into your future you with a group to support you in that and vice versa. I think that's an amazing idea. 


Thank you both for bringing so much imagination, play, and possibility to this topic. Thank you so much, and let's carry forward these ideas and imagine a world where our connections are both digital and grounded in reality. And so, thank you so much for joining us, and until next time, keep thinking about the possibilities that lie ahead.


[22:51]

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