Why We Need Human Connection Now More Than Ever Before

These are strange and unusual times.

This month a poor quality deepfake of President Biden threatening nuclear war sent a concerning ripple across the globe.

In Silicon Valley on Friday, a series of seemingly strange events led to the collapse of SVB; one of the biggest lenders to tech startups globally.

In pop culture, the latest episode of South Park was written by ChatGPT - to surprisingly good effect.

All this digital trickery (and resulting societal instability) has a price.

On the one hand, there are clear benefits and efficiencies. On the other, we’re starting to see research from around the world reveal scary signals of our mental health decline.

The following graph really bothered me, particularly given it’s the month of International Women’s Day. Take a look at the following rates [source] of suicide, self-harm, major depressive episodes and depressive symptoms among US women.

Rates of suicide, self-harm and depression amongst US women.

As famed founder of Y-Combinator Paul Graham quipped, “It's so obvious that something changed, and we all know what it is.”

The US Financial Times shared a similar graph of US teens who only met up with friends, ‘Once a month or less’. They superimposed it with another graph showing the rise of people saying that it ‘Does not feel good to be alive’. The two lines have tracked neck and neck since 2010.

Source: FT

To be direct: this is the era of smartphones and the apps that live on them. These include Instagram, WhatsApp, Discord, Twitch, YouTube, Reddit and, of course, ChatGPT.

Things are pretty dire here in South Africa too, Our mental health research from last year (in collaboration with Xero and other partners) showed an alarming rise in mental health challenges in entrepreneurs. Depression is through the roof. South Africa has entered the top ten countries in the world for suicide. Loneliness is an epidemic worse than COVID.

Even when we’re not alone, we’re alone. Walk around Cape Town’s beautiful Waterfront today and you’ll notice something odd. People are strolling with phones in their hands, scrolling through the latest apps, oblivious to the scenery around them.

So, what is the antidote to all of this?

I meet with Louis and Mike, my business partners and entrepreneur brothers-in-arms, every Monday at 8am to 9am. We’ve been meeting for years, like clockwork.

These meetings are lifesavers for the three of us. Sometimes we talk about serious stuff, life issues and work crises. Mostly we cover family updates and ‘yo mama’ jokes.

This week, Louis closed by saying, “Guys, I just gotta tell you, this hour is my most valuable hour of the work week.” He said it with such sincerity that we all felt emotional.

“I’m not crying. You’re crying,” said Louis, before ending the meeting. Mike and I both had to wipe away a tear.

We need real humans around us. We need tribes. If we’re going to survive in this strange new world, we have to go back to our roots, roaming packs that have each other’s backs.

Who is your tribe?

Who can you cry with?

Look after yourselves out there folks.

Keep connecting with each other.

I hope to see you in real life, sans-screen, soon.

Peace -