The pandemic is going to fundamentally change how we view and appreciate human interaction, experiences, and our passions.

A short people-centric thesis and a thread 1/

Folks have been talking about how the current pandemic is the kind of event that defines generations. For example, the futures of millennials were heavily affected by the ‘08-‘09 financial crisis. 2/

And we saw a boom from 2009+ in the focus on wealth building and personal finance tech: Wealthfront 2008, Robinhood 2013, Acorns 2012, etc. And we come on Twitter or CH and millennials dominate conversations about personal finance and generational wealth. 3/

There’s still conversations about how far the student debt crisis and the ramifications of the past financial crisis will hold back millennial wealth building.

I think that we’re going to see a similar magnitude of influence from this pandemic on age Gen Z 4/

And the first order effect of this pandemic for Gen Z (outside of health): Social experiences.

How many young people do you know who couldn’t have graduations, birthday parties, freshman year move in experiences? Or couldn’t see family members for long periods of time? 5/

This is incredibly traumatic and since the majority of the US (and many other countries) is going through it, it isn’t going to just disappear from conversation or from the public’s memories. 6/

We keep talking about how the pandemic has accelerated remote work and flexible living, but we haven’t talked about how this pandemic is going to fundamentally change the way Gen Z views experiences and human interaction. 7/

Everything that’s been taken for granted in normal times will be of the utmost importance. Seeing friends, connecting w/ppl, human interaction will take on a whole new meaning. & since youth often set the tone for the country (and the world) it’s going to be a massive change 8/

That’s part of why I think apps like Clubhouse are gaining so many users right now. While I love Twitter, the nature of speaking with people on CH and feeling like you’re really in a room having a conversation with friends, or out chatting with people of the same interests... 9/

draws on our longing for sustained and organic human interaction.

It’s almost nostalgic.

And while I’m not sure how that demand will persist as the world reopens, I do know that as soon as they can, people will seek out all of the experiences they missed in COVID. 10/

I’m talking about the need to enjoy and live life to the fullest. Let’s look at the outflow of high earners from big cities due to flexible/remote work—is it only that other cities are cheaper so you save some money?11/

Or is it the realization that there is more life to be lived than just in the major hubs? Is it an appreciation for the additional experiences w/ family and friends that you can get with the money you save when you leave? 12/

I think we say it’s the money but the driving factor here is the appreciation for the experiences that the money will afford us.

I think the pandemic has been grounding in 3 things: people, experience, and passion. 13/

People: in the sense that connectivity that feels human and authentic matters more than ever. With the amount of distance we’re subject to, little things like hearing someone’s kids playing in the background on Zoom, or hearing someone speak passionately on CH... 14/

Fills that longing to be around people.

I think we’re going to see more startups and companies that connect us in ways that feel authentic and human come about. I think we’re also going to see more socially conscious companies as we’ve had time inside to really take in 15/

So many social causes and issues. I don’t think the BLM marches would’ve gotten the support and numbers they did this year if people could forget about it when they went in to work or school. I think that the belief in the collective’s ability to push social progress will 16/

Be an even bigger trend than it already has been.

Experiences: I think that the “live life to the fullest” mantra will really take on a new meeting from 2022 and beyond. 17/

People have had time to sit and think about all the things they had planned to do pre-COVID: the countries they said they’d visit, the parties they said they’d go to, the experiences they thought they could push out. 18/

When the option of tomorrow no longer was an option, I think it hit a lot of us that life is short and much of it is out of our control. With this in mind, I believe that by 2022, we’ll have a populace that is intent on experience-seeking. 19/

But, I don’t necessarily think it’ll look like the experiences we had right before the pandemic. I think it looks likes travel startups better managing your experience, bringing down costs to travel, and helping you navigate all of the amazing places you want to go. 20/

And finally passion: I think that COVID gave people time to reconnect with their passions to fall in love with the small things. I think that’s part of why we see so many substacks and so many undiscovered artists putting out music and content right now. 21/

The monetization of the passion economy is going to dominate the next few years. My good friend @Amanimalc is actually writing a piece on this right now so as soon as he shares, I will link it to this thread!l 22/

Sorry for the long late night thread, but it was on my mind. Took a while too . But would love to hear your thoughts fam!!

@Amanimalc @Jai__Malik @michelleinvests @MacConwell