The Decline of Clubhouse, Dubai World Expo Highlights and Why Marketers Are To Blame For Facebook's Choices | Non-Obvious Insights #290

Dear Newsletterest,

Is Clubhouse ready to fade? Who should we really blame for Facebook's choice to put profits over people's well being? How do you survive information overload? What are some highlights from the long-awaited Dubai World Expo? Enjoy the stories this week!

Don't Blame Facebook. Blame the Marketers.

In doing my weekly research for stories, I found many in marketing trade publications that focused on Facebook.Almost all of them were focused on the lost ad revenue from Facebook's outage this week and the need for marketers to diverse their ad spending. There was hardly any mention of the revelations this week about how Facebook knowingly tries to create and profit off our anger. This needs to change and marketers need to lead the fight. Read my full article here >>

More People Are Living Without Partners. Here's What It Means.

"Looking across a range of measures of economic and social status, unpartnered adults generally have different – often worse – outcomes than those who are married or cohabiting."

A new study from Pew Research explores how and why a rising number of adults in America are living alone without a spouse or partner. More than just documenting that it's happening, the report explores some of the economic and cultural implications. This shift in the idea of how we define "family" and what the term even means inspired an entire chapter in my upcoming book Beyond Diversity. This report points out some sobering findings about the career, economic success and social status of these unpartnered individuals and shows that there remains a bias in most societies toward those who do choose a partner versus those who remain single.

First Impressions of the Dubai 2020 World Expo

After a one year delay, the 2020 Dubai World Expo officially kicked off this week and the events and sessions from it looked brilliant. Think TED, but with lots more fanfare and theatricality, and open to the public. Rather than summarize all the discussions taking place, it's worth taking some time to visit their comprehensive website and review some of the sessions for yourself. Whether it's a reimagined analogy with Jenga to teach people about the importance of biodiversity or tasting the future of food through bioluminescent soups, the range of experiences they have planned will help you to imagine the future for yourself. Which is, of course, exactly the point of the World Expo.

Was Clubhouse Just a Fad That's Now Over?

I never fell in love with Clubhouse, but I definitely tried. Mostly it just felt like too much time spent listening for too few insightful bits of conversation mixed in with lots of people who love the sound of their own voice. Apparently, the platform has been experiencing its own decline recently, as this article suggests. Part of the reason the writer suggests may be the content itself, or the fact that people are starting to get out of their homes more now and so they may be less desperate for any form of human connection.

For me, the hardest part was the constant flood of topics and conversations that I didn't care about. I would love a "mute topic" button to help me avoid conversations that I wasn't interested in, such as dating or how NFTs will change the world, or "get rich quick" advice. As my wife told me, iPhone users apparently do have a "Show me fewer like this" button ... so maybe the decline is actually part of a master plan to get rid of Android users by offering them a subpar experience. If so, mission accomplished Clubhouse. Your scheme is working.

The Urgent Need For Culturally Competent Therapists

People prefer to go to doctors who look like themselves. There are some logical explanations for this, such as a doctor with a similar cultural background may perhaps be more aware of disease conditions that have a higher prevalence to affect those from their communities. Mostly, though, it's a choice based on culture rather than science. Many people want a doctor who understands their own lived experience.

This is particularly important when it comes to therapists who are often helping people deal with issues stemming from how they are seen and treated by others, usually as a result of their identity. The problem, as an article on The Walrus explored this week, is that in many places there is a lack of diverse practitioners available.

Author Cathy Park Hong wrote about this problem in her bestselling book Minor Feelings as well: "I wanted a Korean American therapist because I wouldn't have to explain myself as much. She'd look at me and just know where I was coming from. Out of the hundreds of New York therapists available on the Aetna database of mental health care providers, I found exactly one therapist with a Korean surname."

In the book her story ends entertainingly badly, with the therapist refusing to treat her. In real life, though, this lack of diversity and cultural competency is a problem that requires a generational solution. The therapists of tomorrow must be welcomed into schools and encouraged to choose to become the therapists of tomorrow.

How to Survive in a World of Information Overload

A good part of my days and weeks are spent teaching people how to deal with noise overload. The first thing I tell them is that there is no such thing as information overload. The overload is from "noise," and your ability to segment and ignore that noise will be a crucial survival skill for the future of your career and your personal sanity. An article from author Nir Eyal offers a deeper look at this skill from the perspective of a tech industry insider who literally wrote the book on how to create addictive experiences (Hooked). It's worth a read because Eyal focuses on the difference between creating traction versus distraction. He writes, "we often consume unnecessary information as an emotional escape when we don't feel right." The rest of the article offers his three tips for improving your attention and reducing the things that distract you.

Even More Non-Obvious Stories ...

Every week I always curate more stories than I'm able to explore in detail. In case you're looking for some more reading this week, here are a few other stories that captured my attention ...

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Every week I spend hours going through hundreds of stories in order to curate this email. Want to discuss how I could bring this thinking to your next event as a virtual speaker? Visit my speaking page to watch my new 2021 sizzle reel >>

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The Decline of Clubhouse, Dubai World Expo Highlights and Why Marketers Are To Blame For Facebook's Choices | Non-Obvious Insights #290

Don't Blame Facebook. Blame the Marketers.

More People Are Living Without Partners. Here's What It Means.

First Impressions of the Dubai 2020 World Expo

Was Clubhouse Just a Fad That's Now Over?

The Urgent Need For Culturally Competent Therapists

How to Survive in a World of Information Overload

Even More Non-Obvious Stories ...

Older messages

ICYMI: Finishing Beethoven's Lost Symphony, the Internet Blackout and the Ultimate Writing Keyboard | Non-Obvious Insights #289

Finishing Beethoven's Lost Symphony, the Internet Blackout and the Ultimate Writing Keyboard | Non-Obvious Insights #289

How To Fix Tantrum-Throwing Adults, Bringing Back the Woolly Mammoth and Why To Include "Dad" In Your Bio | Non-Obvious Insights #288

Chicago Messes With Texas, a Startup That Kills Hurricanes and Why Scientists Named a Fly After a Drag Queen | Non-Obvious Insights #287

Why Twitter Marketing Is A Waste, Job Ads For Witches and a $400B Desert City | Non-Obvious Insights #286

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