the serendipity project

the problem

It has been 15 years since the initial rise of social media. Despite living in the most “connected” era in the history of humankind, we are lonelier than ever. The loneliness epidemic is a serious and widely discussed problem. And there’s no doubt about the central cause of this phenomenon.

A 2020 ​Cigna study​ found that over 70 percent of those aged 18 - 22 report feeling “sometimes” or “always” lonely. Further, 71% of “heavy social media users” reported feelings of loneliness compared to just 53% a year ago. In contrast, only 51% of “light social media users” reported feeling lonely ( still up from 47% a year ago ). And loneliness is no joke. A study (​Holt-Lunstad et al., 2015) found that suffering from chronic loneliness is as deadly as ​obesity​ and more dangerous than smoking 15 cigarettes ​a day.

And in the past 15 years, social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, Tinder, Bumble...) has been accepted as one of the primary methods of communication among this entire generation. More people are spending more of their time on these platforms in hopes to “connect” with others. Further, the profit model of social media is targeted advertisement. They make a profit by keeping users on their platforms for as long as possible. We believe healthy and genuine connections must primarily include real world in person social interactions. ​Society needs a healthy and moral alternative to social media.

our product

Our credo is to use technology as a tool to create real world environments where there's an incredibly high probability of "genuine connection" between a group of people.

We plan on achieving this goal by creating a location based mobile/web application that embodies our credo. Users will start by filling out a thorough survey. The survey will generate an "interest/value profile" for each new user. Users will then set their availability through a built-in calendar. Using each user's availability, personal interst/value profile, and their location, our platform will place a number of users with high profile overlap into groups with an assigned venue. This assigned venue will be relevant to the areas of interest/value overlap between the entire group.

The idea of serendipity seems to present itself to be at the core of the most fruitful relationships - the right people who cosmically meet at the right place, at the right time. But what about the right people who can't achieve serendipity? Bridge empowers individuals with the agency to meet their right people on their own terms. We reposition the magic of finding community out of some cosmic power and into the hands of the people themselves.

who we are

Humans need meaningful relationships and a sense of belonging. It's ingrained in our DNA and is a vital echelon in our hierarchy of needs.

We are a group of friends who've all experienced feeling utterly alone in an era of hyper connection. And we think we're not the only ones who've felt this way. This is a problem that impacts everyone. That's why we're building a product for everyone.

Contact

Elements

i = 0;

while (!deck.isInOrder()) {
    print 'Iteration ' + i;
    deck.shuffle();
    i++;
}

print 'It took ' + i + ' iterations to sort the deck.';