Chronically online culture is cracking our social fabric.
Break Point
Brainrotting, 76% of people say they spend too much time on their phones, with 73% believing it’s negatively impacting mental health. Ripple effects, anxiety is on the rise, dating doom loops are damaging well-being, and loneliness is linked to ~100 deaths an hour.
A Big Tobacco-level reckoning, Meta and YouTube were just found liable for knowingly designing harmful products, with the landmark trial implicating habit-forming features like infinite scroll and autoplay.
Conscious Computing
Intentionally nonaddictive, new social platforms are raising capital on the promise of civic outcomes over DAUs.
Second acts. Hoping to reverse social media’s “terrible devastation of the human mind and heart,” Twitter co-founder Biz Stone and Pinterest co-founder Evan Sharp secured $29M for mindful tech startup, West Co. With Awe author Dacher Keltner and Sacred Design Lab’s Sue Phillips as advisors, the company’s developing Tangle, a social platform for “intentional living.”
Also rebooting, Hinge’s ex-CPO and COO scored $8.5M for Rodeo, an app that “wrangles” scattered plans to simplify group hangs and strengthen relationships.
Fresh meat. As Silicon Valley vets revise tactics, a new class is starting from scratch. Innovating an SMS-based social network, Yale student-founded Series scored $3.1M, using AI to make mutually beneficial intros while committing $100K to sponsor IRL events in 2026.
An a16z speedrun project, Vega builds profiles around human testimonials rather than content, and UK-based CLIQ closed a seven-figure round to cultivate interest-based community groups. Creating social neighborhood maps, Corner raised $3.8M to open source local watering holes.
Reality Check
Monetization and retention remain a challenge. Backed by Twitter co-founder Ev Williams and OpenAI’s Sam Altman, influencer-proof platform Maven secured a $2M seed in 2023 but failed to grow fast enough for a follow-on round.
Eliminating likes and follows, it was designed for deep discussion—not dopamine hits—but didn’t drive engagement like misinformation and rage-baiting.
Takeaway: Social media devolved into shameless data-collection, addictive content, divisive rhetoric, ceaseless selling, and performative wellness. The caliber of talent making alternative plays points to both massive problem and opportunity, with 2.0 platforms drawing investment.
