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Bonjour,

See you in the woods. The Boys are headed to fest thanks to our friends at Optimism (very cool move). The mood board has been deployed.

ily,

Writer: Natasha (insta)
Editor: Deana

I’ve been thinking about loneliness recently and how our relationship to that drumming feeling in your chest is both filled and ultimately expanded by the scroll of the newsfeed and the desire for validation online. It feels really nice for a moment, but then there’s something that follows which feels void.

A new product drop shows I’m not the only one thinking about that feeling and how it manifests through digital consumption, creation, and online signaling.

I put this tweet in the newsletter last week for lolz

but after yesterday’s new product launch timeline takeover, it’s reading a little less haha and a little more ahfuuuuck.

Takes on a new AI companion called Friend were rampant on my feed. Their product video showcases a dystopian, Black Mirror-style relationship with a necklace that listens in on your life and then texts you various things throughout the day based on your activities.

Mostly the replies and quote tweets read something like:

As well as, capitalism, she knows no bounds:

They also apparently paid $1.8M of $2.5M raised on their domain name, but not my monkey, not my circus. Back to modern loneliness.

What I’ve observed in my own content is that the tweets that hit are often sprinkled with a pinch of mental illness.

And that’s ultimately because, at its best, being too online is about being seen by someone in the world, whom you maybe don’t know at all, and feeling comforted by the idea that they might also be working through their own aching feeling in their chest.

The last emo boi thought I'll make here related to AI hardware companions is that a lot of loneliness is about fear, fear that’s often rooted in a lack of self-acceptance, and the antidote to that fear is compassion, both for yourself and others.

So, as much as I don’t think a necklace friend is the answer, I think we’re all just doing our best, and being open and kind along the way is probably the move, even when it’s deeply uncool.

Catch our latest podcast episode below.