Thoughts

Have you ever felt bored and wished a good friend were there?

Have you ever been in a tiring situation that you just knew would be so much better with a friend by your side? Time would go faster.

I think that's exactly what's happening with social media. People are getting tired of the constant flood of stimulation.

They're starving for authenticity. For inspiration. For something that warms the heart and makes it a little easier to go through life.

Just like a good friend.

I think a lot of students feel too lazy to study or bored at school because they don't understand why the things they're learning matter.¹ How can they apply them to their own lives? How do they connect with what they already know?²

They haven't learned to recognize the mental pathways that connect different ideas. They haven't been introduced to mental models or frameworks that could help them make sense of what they're learning.

They might even start with an open heart, but they don't find a purpose to keep going.³ It's like shooting arrows in the dark. And that's frustrating. So they put down the bow and go listen to some music.

But they still can't really see.

Because the blindfold is still over their eyes.

If someone had tried to create something like Think Again before Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok,¹ I think they would’ve been left stranded.

Because the crowd wasn’t ready.

Before social media became part of everyone’s everyday life, how could people even imagine something like a cognitive infrastructure?

The idea is novel, but not that novel.

I’m not reinventing the wheel. I’m just taking an industry people already know and bringing it in a slightly different direction.

Instead of just looking for distraction, I think people are increasingly looking for something more: personal growth and developing the way they think.²

I don’t want to make social media feel more like studying.

I’m not trying to ruin the experience of chilling on your phone. I just want you to spend less time on it and get more out of the time you do spend there.

I want to make studying feel more like social media.

Look at the names we use on social media.

Feed

as if you were starving for content. Or just distraction.

Influencers

as if they were there to brainwash you.

Stories

actually, that one’s okay.

Follow

as if you were stalking someone.

User

as if you were using some addictive chemical substance.

On Think Again, we have something different.

A Portfolio, with Creators and Storytellers who share Thoughts with Members.

Because even the words we choose say something about the kind of relationship we want people to have with a platform.

You know what?

I miss the days when you could make friends over a shared interest.

And before you knew it, you were already mates.

But I feel like the whole social media landscape has messed with that.

The illusion of community through consumption.³

I want Think Again to answer the simple questions students have.

Say you want to know why you divide a formula by two,¹ but your teacher doesn’t know why, or doesn’t want to admit it.² You could go to Think Again and find someone who can explain it to you.

And this doesn’t apply just to math. It applies to public speaking, personal finance, and pretty much any skill you want to learn.

I can see schools using Think Again as a tool to complement traditional education.³

Imagine a conversation like this:

Reading a book from cover to cover can be boring.

But taking chapters or topics from different books, all focused on one specific skill? That can be much more interesting.

That’s how I learn on social media.

I learn a little here, a little there. From this book, from that book. I listen to one person talk, then listen to someone else.

Different perspectives. Comparing them gives me more confidence in what I’m learning and helps me figure out what’s credible.

Not to mention the effect that all this variety can have on attention. The tone of voice changes. The setting changes. The rhythm of reading changes. So does the kind of explanation, or even the angle from which the same subject is approached.

It’s still one skill, but I’m learning it in many different ways.

This is a humanitarian good. A good for higher-quality education.

Game theory suggests that a small cluster of people who cooperate can grow under the right conditions. Think of high achievers, like Baret Scholars, working together and achieving more because of that cooperation. These small clusters can become bigger islands of people, eventually changing the entire ecosystem.

That’s my life’s mission. My mitzvah: to do a humanitarian good and leave my mark while doing it.

I learned more about life and business on the internet than I did in school. That’s absurd!

I don’t want to replace traditional learning or the school environment. But you’re going to need much more than that to live and succeed.

That’s what Think Again is for.