In collaboration with our friends at FNDR, we are excited to share FNDR’s Corner – a weekly series of business and cultural provocations that encourages everybody to think like a Founder.
Whenever we hear about digital detoxes, nature often shows up, touted as a cure for our screen-time dependency. While nature may help us spend less time swiping and twitching, such logic puts the sickness and the cure in opposition. More nature, less digital. That kind of thing.
What if our renewed desire for nature is not a reaction to technology? We are not fleeing or escaping it. Instead, the Internet has been honing our exploratory skills. They have been re-awakened, just as the natural world is slipping away. What if the Internet rewilded us?
Our digital lives are unstructured, non-linear, expansive, vibrant, exciting. Uncertain. Our online explorations have created a longing for the same level of freedom and access elsewhere. But mostly our urban world, controlled and surveilled, disappoints. Unsatisfying jobs, lonely cities, claustrophobic apartments. Predictable.
No wonder we turn to the open worlds, lack of labels, access all areas, find-whatever-you’re-seeking landscapes of the Internet. All the things nature used to give us. It is no surprise that the digital natives who have grown up comparing the rest of the world to their frictionless, fluid and stimulating experiences online are the one who are most vocal and active about climate catastrophe. They recognize the true value of nature, not as a resource, but as a part of them. The wilder, the better.
Can the Internet help us recover our affection for nature?
FNDR works with the Founders of the world’s most transformative companies, bringing voice to Founders’ vision and defining culturally relevant, sustainable businesses. They are in direct conversation every week with the leaders who are building the next generation of business. They are fascinated by the shared themes and challenges seen across categories, and what it takes to lead a company intentionally.
