Intuition and intellect aren’t mutually exclusive.
Caught Slipping
Dubbed the “Flynn effect,” IQ scores began increasing in the 1930s, fueled by education, knowledge work, and mass media stimulating abstract thinking skills.
Now, we’re backsliding. As chronic phone use and short-form content erode cognition, school test scores are falling, ADHD is rising, and “brain rot” is so widespread it won word of the year.
Trap Doors
A conundrum, critical thinking demands considering diverse beliefs, but online echo chambers don’t incentivize thoughtful discourse.
As IQ, EQ, and attention spans shrink, bots, trolls, and memes are winning the web — turning a tool for collective intelligence into a threat to social cohesion.
Meanwhile, as the wellness industry elevates intuition, the concept is being diluted — conflating intuition (subconscious pattern recognition) with instinct (often-irrational biological urges).
Back to School
A pendulum swing, what’s scarce is desired, making clear thinking certifiably cool.
Broad cultural signals, Coach co-created a book-centric campaign with Gen Z, and Pinterest debuted an anti-social media initiative, while Vogue and Miu Miu launched book clubs.
Crews. Largely unclaimed territory, non-elitist higher learning is in demand. Popularizing erudite events, Lectures on Tap and Big Brain Lectures sell out rooms in major metros, while Base and The School of Life gather members for rich conversation.
Turning cerebral pastimes into parties, Knight Club Chess, Knightcap Chess, and LA Chess Club are burgeoning social scenes, while Green Tile Social Club is spreading mahjong in NYC. Mixing books, yoga, and chef-crafted meals, Page Break hosts reading weekends in NYC, and music-centric Reading Rhythms sells run club-style sponsorships.
CPUs. The new firewall, digital platforms are promising to block attention hacks. Respecting brain space, Sublime’s knowledge system, Cosmos’ ideation hub, and INSPIRED’s innovator network shield against ads and misinformation.
Ritualizing mental fitness, Imprint’s doomscroll-free visual learning app was named Google’s App of the Year, and The Mind Company’s micro-learning ecosystem is backed by Sequoia.
Kits. Outfitting studious athletes, introspective labels like Literary Sport and Notes Running challenge the jock vs. nerd stereotypes — painting the coolest wellness consumers as both.
Punchline: The exposures layer of health includes mental, not just physical, inputs. Wellness is knowing when to embrace primal impulse vs. intelligent intuition, but the latter won’t emerge from a short-form lifestyle.
