People with a healthy limit on their screen time probably havent noticedbut theres been a meme shortage this March. On TikTok, some have declared a full-blown “Meme Drought,” dubbing it the Great Meme Depression of 2025.
The panic began on March 10, when user @goofangel posted a video titled TikTok Great Depression March 2025. He says, Nine days into March and we havent had a single original meme. The post quickly racked up nearly a million views and clearly struck a chord, if the comments are any indication.
@goofangel #tiktok #brainrot #brainrotquiz #funny #unemployment original sound – goofangel
October to February was an insane run, one commenter reminisced, recalling a time when everyone was holding space for “Defying Gravity” andwho remembers when everyone collectively joined Red Note for a minute? Does the millennial burger restaurant count? another asked. Subarus kinda funny, but not laughing funny, yk? someone else added. But as @goofangel pointed out, the “I Call Patrick Subaru” meme actually originated in 2021.
The Great Meme Depression soon became a meme itself, as TikTokers flooded the platform with meta-commentary. How the Great March Meme Drought will be described in history books, one user posted, alongside a slideshow of images from the Great Depression circa 1929. Another creator shared a video featuring TikTok influencers faces captioned: When mfs say they grew up poor but never had to live through the Great Meme Depression.
@de.novo12 Worst than a recession #march#marchmemedrought #fyp #funny original sound – maystxn
Others joked about the surreal nature of it all. How it feels to realize The Great Meme Drought of March is actually a meme itself, one added.
With the trend cycle running faster than ever, meme culture may simply be unable to keep pace. The insatiable demand for viral content has left us trapped in an algorithmic loop, now recycling the same tired material weve already scrolled past.
Rather than forcing it, maybe this temporary drought is a chance to pause. Set some limits on screen timeand actually stick to them. Read a book or finally watch Severance. At least until the next viral moment comes along.
Caroline Fleck, PhD, is a licensed psychologist, corporate consultant, and adjunct clinical instructor at Stanford University. She received a BA in psychology and English from the University of Michigan and an MA and PhD from the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at Duke. Fleck has served as a supervisor and consultant for some of the most rigorous clinical training programs in the country, and has been featured in national media outlets, including the The New York Times, Good Morning America, and HuffPost. In her private practice, Fleck specializes in dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) and other cognitive behavioral treatments for mood, anxiety, and personality disorders. Flecks corporate work focuses on strengthening company cultures and individual performance. She implements custom training programs for Fortune 500 companies and provides executive coaching to industry leaders worldwide.
Whats the big idea?
The secret to influencing others isnt about persuasionits about validation. In Validation: How the Skill Set That Revolutionized Psychology Will Transform Your Relationships, Increase Your Influence, and Change Your Life, Fleck reveals how acknowledging and accepting others experiences can strengthen relationships, defuse conflicts, and even increase self-compassion. Through captivating stories and actionable techniques, she introduces eight powerful skills to harness validations transformative impact. Validation uncovers how truly seeing and being seen is the key to lasting change.
Below, Fleck shares five key insights from her new book. Listen to the audio versionread by Fleck herselfin the Next Big Idea App.
1. Validation is not what you think it is.
My technical definition of validation is that it communicates mindfulness, understanding, and empathy in ways that convey acceptance. If I were to translate that into a mantra, it would be, Validation shows that youre there, you get it, and you care.
Validation is not praise: Praise is a judgment. It says, I like the way you look or perform. Validation demonstrates acceptance. It says, I accept who you are, independent of how you look or perform. When people claim that we shouldnt rely on external validation, they are confusing validation with praise.
Validation is not problem-solving: Problem-solving focuses on changing someones reaction by suggesting solutions to their, e.g., I know you didnt do well on that spelling test; why dont we try reviewing your words on the way to school next time? Validation, on the other hand, focuses on acknowledging the situation and the validity of someones response to it: You studied so hard; I can understand why you are upset.
Validation is not agreement: I can validate why someone would have concerns about protecting an unborn fetus, even if I am pro-choice. If the idea of validating an opinion you disagree with makes you nervous, rest assured that validating another persons perspective does not necessarily function to reinforce it. On the contrary, people tend to get entrenched in their views when they feel like they have to defend their own position or attack yours. A validating response from you leaves nothing to attack, much less anything to defend against.
So again, validation shows that youre there, you get it, and you care. It is not praise, problem-solving, or agreement.
2. Validation is like MDMA for your relationships.
Validation improves relationships by transforming how they feel, increasing trust, intimacy, and psychological safety. Research has consistently shown validation to be among the strongest predictors of relational outcomes, ranging from commitment to quality across various types of relationships. This is really important given the effect relationships have on our health and life expectancy. Having poor social relationships is associated with the same death rate as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. Data show that the quality of a persons relationships can increase their probability of surviving by 50%.
Importantly, validation is critical to all our relationships, including the one we have with ourselves. Knowing how to validate your own emotions is essential to developing self-compassion and improving how you relate to yourself. I have many more tips on how to cultivate self-validation in the book.
Validation is also particularly helpful in the context of conflict. Its basically like adding an adorable cat filter to yourself during a videoconferencing meetingit makes you immediately less threatening and infinitely harder to argue with. Why? The answer appears to be in how it affects the validated persons physiology. As someone becomes more upset, their ability to reason, recall, and focus sharply decreases. Their sympathetic nervous system takes over, reducing their response options to fight, flight, or freeze.
Validation tempers this responseit reduces sympathetic arousal and enhances a persons ability to reason and engage in perspective-taking. Validating individuals in highly stressful situations has been shown to lower their heart rate, galvanic skin response (sweating), and negative emotions. Unsurprisingly, invalidation has demonstrated the opposite effect, increasing distress and conflict.
3. Research suggests that validation is a catalyst for change.
I made this point earlier when discussing how validation is used in DBT. However, neuroimaging research can help us understand whats happening here. The question of whether validation can drive people to change their behavior hinges on the degree to which it is perceived as rewarding. Anything that is rewarding has the potential to serve as positive reinforcementa reward given after a behavior that increases the likelihood that the behavior will be repeated. For instance, if a dog that has been rewarded with a treat for sitting on command is more likely to sit on command in the future, we know that the treat functioned to positively reinforce her behavior.
Positive reinforcement activates the reward center of our brain, releasing neurotransmitters like dopamine that create feelings of pleasure. For instance, opioids, orgasms, and cash giveaways all produce this effect. Neuroimaging studies have demonstrated that feeling understood stimulates these same reward centers as well as areas linked to social connectedness. Returning to our question of whether validation is enjoyable enough to prompt behavioral change, the answer is a resounding yes.
4. Validation is a skill set anyone can master.
Therapists are trained in specific skills to help them reliably and authentically communicate validation. In Validation, I describe how Ive adapted these therapist skills so they can be used by anyone in any relationship.
The model I developed is called the Validation Ladder. It includes three subsets of skills that map onto each of the three main qualities of validation. Youve got two skills for conveying mindfulness, three for understanding, and three for empathy. Validation only works if its authentic, so if you dont understand or empathize with soeones experience, the Mindfulness skills might be all you can use.
An example of a Mindfulness Skill is Attending, which requires you to focus on answering this two-part question:
1) Whats a better way to make this persons point?2) Why does it matter to them?
You dont need to communicate your insights. As a mindfulness skill, these questions are designed to inform how you listen. By focusing on these questions, youre more likely to signal engagement and naturally ask more targeted questions, rather than concentrating on your rebuttal or allowing your mind to wander.
To apply understanding skills, you need to genuinely see the logic in someones response. An example of an understanding skill is Equalizing, or normalizing. If you can imagine that you would react similarly to whatever the other person is experiencing, you simply communicate. For instance, you might say, Anyone in your shoes would want a second opinion or I would have done the same thing. By indicating that someones reaction is consistent with what you would think, feel, or do in that situation, you convey that its understandable.
Finally, the empathy skills are the most validating, as they convey mindfulness, understanding, and empathy in one fell swoop. An example of an Empathy skill is Emoting. You might tear up if someone is relaying a sad story or jump up and down when they share good news. Emoting allows you to enter into the other persons experience, not as a spectator but as an active participant.
When I first learned validation skills as a therapist, I wasnt blown away by their novelty. Many of the skills in the Validation Ladder will be things youve heard of or practiced before. Their transformative power only becomes apparent once youve honed your ability to know when to use them. Validation is much like baking; the steps involved seem deceptively straightforward, but if a novice and a master baker follow the exact same recipe, the outcome will be noticeably different. Timing, technique, and understanding how to pivot when neededthese minor adjustments determine whether or not someone will appreciate or be reinforced by the treat you provide them.
5. Find the kernel of truth.
You should only validate a persons experience to the extent that you actually consider it to be valid. The aim is to find the kernel of truth in someones experience and validate that. Generally speaking, a persons experience is composed of their thoughts, emotions, and behavior. Psychologists consider thoughts to be valid if they are logical or reasonable based on the facts of a situation. Behaviors are considered valid if they are effective given ones long-term goals. As for emotions, well, you can presume that emotions are always valid. Trust me, you dont want to get in the business of arguing with people about how they feel.
A persons behavior and emotions may be valid even if the thoughts that gave rise to them are not, and vice versa. For example, if someone believes there is an imminent threat of an alien invasion, they would understandably feel anxious and fearful. Anxiety and fear are reasonable reactions to an impending danger. It also makes sense that this individual would vote for a politician with a plan to address the alien invasion. Their thoughts in this scenario are invalid as they are based on misinformation, but their emotions and behavior are understandable given the misinformation they are operating under.
Recognizing the valid doesnt mean you cant work on changing whats invalid or problematic. On the contrary, if the last 30 years have taught us anything, its that people are much more receptive to collaborating, receiving feedback, and even changing when they feel seen in their experience.
This article originally appeared in Next Big Idea Club magazine and is reprinted with permission.
One of the more frustrating classes I took in college in the 1980s was a computer science course on data structures and algorithms. In that class, we learned about a variety of approaches to solving key problems in programming. For example, we learned several different ways to take a list of numbers given in an arbitrary order and to sort that list from smallest to largest. These approaches differed in their efficiency.
What frustrated me about the class wasnt the algorithms themselvesthey were interesting. But we were never taught how anyone ever came up with those different approaches. What in the world would have gotten someone to even think of those things?
Looking back on it, my frustration arose because the class wasnt teaching us how to imagine alternatives to what we already knew. Instead, it was just providing a series of alternatives that someone else had discovered.
In fact, much of school involves learning things that someone else has discovered and then doing assignments in which you answer questions that the person asking the question already knows the answer to. Yet, most of what youre going to be asked to do for the rest of your career involves answering new questions that the person asking doesnt already know how to answer (and perhaps nobody has a satisfactory answer to yet).
Imagining alternatives to current reality is not something you are likely to do well unless you practice it. If you feel like you need more practice being imaginative, here are a few things you can do to improve.
Consider the scenario
Bear in mind that all of the things you imagine are rooted in things you know already. In classic studies, people were asked to draw imaginary creatures from another planet. These creatures all tended to have the same structure, appendages, and sense organs as existing creatures. So, if youre trying to imagine a new alternative, youre going to call an existing scenario to mind. If you arent happy with the outcome of your imagination, try thinking of another scenario to use as a basis for your imagined situation.
Think first about the outcome
There is a tendency to focus on situations you know about when trying to imagine the future. Instead, focus on the solution or outcome you want to achieve, because that might call other things to mind. If you are trying to imagine modes of transportation in the future, rather than thinking about cars or trains, just focus on how a person could start at one place and end up at their desired location. That might lead to a different approach to imagining the future.
Add constraints
Try to constrain your imagination. People often think that constraints make them less creative. Studies suggest, though, that without constraints, you often imagine world that is quite similar to the world you know. When you put a lot of constraints on your imagination, most of the initial things you think of violate those constraints, so you have to keep working at it. You may fail to find anything that fits the constraints you set, but when you do, it is probably going to be pretty creative.
Devote time to practicing
You should also practice trying to imagine thingseven when you dont need to. Give yourself an assignment to imagine a solution to a problem you see, to come up with a plot for a story, or to develop a business idea. This practice will make you more comfortable using your imagination in situations where the idea you generate has implications for your job success.
Ultimately, remember that imagination is a skill that can be improved with practice. Because your education probably did not prepare you to be particularly imaginative, youre going to have to work on it on your own. While it would have been nice to get more practice imagining in school, it is never too late to work on those skills.
An Elon Musk superfan (or a master of satire) has released a music video filmed on the back of a Tesla Cybertruckand its just as wild as you might imagine.
Alessandra Basher, a self-described stay-at-home mom with dreams of becoming a stand-up comedian, posted the video on Sunday to her 56,867 followers on X. She explained that she felt compelled to write the song in response to the nonsense hate Musk has received for his role in dismantling federal agencies under the Trump administration.
We thank you, Elon Musk. pic.twitter.com/6JwIgyB8Jy— Alessandra Basher All in Tesla Humor (@alessandrajokes) March 24, 2025
Singing into a mic stand on the back of a Cybertruck, wearing a cowboy hat and a Dogefather T-shirt emblazoned with Musks face, Basher belts out the lyrics: SpaceX flies / Tesla self-drives / Starlink beams with laser dreams / hes got a master plan for our lives.
Interspersed with clips of Musk speaking at Trump rallies, the song also credits the billionaire with eliminating woke pain and ensuring humanitys future by making kids to keep mankind alive. Other lines include: One more kid, one more brand, launching rockets with just one hand.
Its hard to believe someone would unironically post a music video titled “We Thank You, Elon Musk” shot in and on a Cybertruckbut thats exactly the debate raging online. Launching rockets with one hand is either the most subtle, nearly undetectable satire, or an unintentional burn, one Bluesky user noted. I had a real moment of doubt at the line about more kids, more brands or whatever, but I’m still thinking its sincere, another user added.
After facing backlash from Tesla haters who questioned whether this was a leaked audition video from a woman hoping to bear Elons 53rd child, Basher fired back in a follow-up post: “Im not trying to have a baby with Elon,” she wrote on X. “I’m just having fun creating and performing a song to say thanks for what he did and is doing for this country and the world.”
While Musk himself has yet to respond, the reception on X was notably warmer than on Bluesky. “Alessandra, you are a star. That is fantastically good. Superbly done. On point and uplifting. Terrific!” one user gushed. Another Musk fan added, “I now listen to it every time I drive my CT. Thank you again.”
The Fast Company Impact Council is an invitation-only membership community of leaders, experts, executives, and entrepreneurs who share their insights with our audience. Members pay annual dues for access to peer learning, thought leadership opportunities, events and more.
Imagine a world where marketing managers oversee AI copywriters, sales leaders direct AI-powered CRM systems, and engineers supervise code-generating agents. This is already starting to happen.
By 2030, AI is projected to displace 92 million jobs while creating 170 million new ones, according to the World Economic Forum. Rather than replacing humans, AI is redefining their roles. In the near future, individual contributors will transition into AI managers who orchestrate workflows between human creativity and machine efficiency. Instead of coding or other technical skills, the most sought-after skill of tomorrow will be the ability to manage AI systems and teams of AI agents effectively. The key to surviving this shift? AI literacy.
The AI literacy divide: Beyond hype to practical mastery
A recent study from Deloitte found that only 20% of leaders feel the talent at their organizations is prepared to deploy AI successfully. Many assume AI integration requires hiring armies of machine learning engineers. This misconception is as outdated as believing every company needs a team of electrical engineers to use lightbulbs.
AI is infrastructure, not magic. You dont need to understand AI transformer architectures any more than you need to grasp TCP/IP protocols to send an email. The problem for most organizations is simply that employees dont know how to leverage AI tools effectively. The challenge for leaders today, then, lies in bridging the gap between awareness and applied proficiency.
The three pillars of AI literacy
The good news is that anyone can learn AI literacy. Todays business leaders can start by building their teams, and their own skills in three core areas of AI literacy: understanding what AI can do, improving prompting skills, and managing AIs limitations.
1. Generative AI awareness
AI evolves faster than human intuition. Six months ago, ChatGPT couldnt generate realistic images (remember the people with tiny teeth?). Today, tools like Midjourney v6 produce photorealistic outputs indistinguishable from human-created content.
2. AI prompting proficiency
Effective AI use requires structured prompts. For example, I use a 5C prompting framework: clarity, contextualization, command, chaining, and continuous refinement.
Clarity: Start with a clear and specific task for the AI agent. A marketer might start with, generate 10 search ads for an online learning solution.
Context: Then, share relevant context. Continuing the example above, the marketer might add details about their company, define the audience for the ad, and state the goals of the ad campaign.
Command: Here, I specify what the output should look like. The marketer might include, format the 10 search ads in a table, including relevant SEO keywords as an additional column. Limit each ad to 100 characters.
Chaining: This is also known as chain of thought prompting. Spell out the specific tasks youd like the AI agent to complete and in what order. The marketer might say, Start by reviewing recent ads from X, Y, and Z learning companies.
Continuous refinement: The final step will depend on the output from the AI agent. Its up to you, the human, to review the output and ask for revisions from your AI agent as needed.
3. Manage limitations
AI hallucination rates hover around 3% for top modelsa small percentage, but one that can have huge impacts. Human oversight of AI outputs is critical. When an AI-generated legal brief cited non-existent cases a few years ago, it wasnt the tool that failed; it was the human who skipped verification.
Build an AI-literate organization
For hiring managers and business leaders, an easy place to start is by embedding AI literacy into job descriptions. For example: In the 1990s, just about every job that involved computers asked for Excel proficiency. Soon, AI workflow design will define many of tomorrows roles. To get your teams ready for this shift, prioritize hands-on AI training at your company. Reading about AI is like learning to swim from a book. Eventually, you need to dive in to gain mastery of the tools.
This doesnt mean that soft skills no longer matterin fact its quite the opposite. Leaders should be helping their teams refine the human skills that will matter most in the near future. A few of these include strategic decision making, to ensure AI agents are carrying out the right tasks to meet business goals, and empathetic communication to lead, inspire, and collaborate effectively with other humans.
AI as an amplifier of human potential
History shows that rather than eliminating the need for human skills, technological revolutions amplify it. While the printing press reduced demand for scribes, it also created publishers, journalists, and educatorsand ultimately, led to increased rates of literacy across the globe. Similarly, rather than replace humans, AI will empower those who master it to achieve new levels of productivity and innovation.
The most successful organizations will be those that view AI not as a threat, but as a force multiplier. By investing in AI literacy today, business leaders are doing more than future-proofing their workforce; theyre unlocking human potential to solve problems once deemed impossible.
The question isnt whether AI will change peoples jobs. Its whether youll be the one wielding itor watching from the sidelines.
Tigran Sloyan is cofounder and CEO of CodeSignal.
The Fast Company Impact Council is an invitation-only membership community of leaders, experts, executives, and entrepreneurs who share their insights with our audience. Members pay annual dues for access to peer learning, thought leadership opportunities, events and more.
Most of us have heard the phrase supply chain disruption a few times too many in recent years. An extreme weather event or material shortage in one corner of the earth can ripple through thousands of global businesses, causing major delays. As the CEO of a company that builds data centers for some of the biggest technology providers in the world, its a concept Im all too familiar with. Its also one I refuse to accept as blanket reality.
Truth is that many supply chain disruptions are born out of the transactional nature of supplier-business partnerships. Companies over-rotate on getting the lowest prices for materials and components, and in the process they miss an opportunity to pursue high quality, collaborative relationships with suppliers.
My company set out to reimagine the supply chain a few years ago. We wanted to make our supply chain flexible, resilient, and a powerful source of innovation. The benefits have been countless: better utilization, faster timelines, lower total cost, new product and service models, and partners to help us thrive in a rapidly growing and changing industry.
So how did we get here? We reframed the relationship and changed how we get the job done. We dont have a procurement function; we have an innovation function. This way of thinking and working was a natural extension of already strong, decade-long relationships.
Anything but transactional
The bottom line is, we treat suppliers like partners.
Recognizing that no one is immune to supply chain disruptions, in 2021, we started meeting with our suppliers more frequently, at least weekly. These meetings gave us a chance to ask questions, better understand the issues, and avoid surprises.
That transparency goes in all directions. We also meet with our customers frequently, relaying updates on potential issues. We take an all-hands-on-deck approach to keeping available materials in the pipeline, so projects stay on track. This transparency means we can find ways to mitigate the impact of supply chain disruptions in real time.
According to McKinsey, companies that regularly collaborate with suppliers see higher growth, lower operating costs, and better profitability than peers. That makes a lot of sense. The collaboration that has come from our supply chain has certainly paid dividends.
Problem solving with partners is a two-way street
As data center development skyrocketed at the beginning of the decade, our partner Schneider Electric, who provides prefabricated power modules for data centers, needed to expand its footprint and bring additional integration facilities onlineand fast.
We invited them to be our neighbor. We had land, power, and the ability to build the type of facility they needed. Schneider could expand without taking on too much risk and didnt need to start from scratch to find land, secure power, and develop building plans. Now, Schneider can integrate our power centers and test our uninterruptible power supplies close to our campus.
This collaborative approach resulted in faster delivery times and improved efficiency across the board. There was so much trust between our two companies, it guaranteed that we were working toward a common goal and making us better able to weather the inevitable challenges.
Intimacy might be the mother of invention
Close partnerships with suppliers also allow you to respond to market forces faster.
Because of our close ties with Vertiv, we shaved months off the timeline to develop a new cooling system to meet the requirements of AI. Our customers were eager to adopt AI quickly, but not ready to say goodbye to traditional CPUs nor go down the high-cost path of a data center redesign or retrofit. To solve the challenge, we had to think inside the box and figure out how to adapt liquid cooling within our existing footprint. Retrofitting and re-engineering the buildings wasnt an option from a cost and timeline perspective.
The result was a system that allowed deployments of AI to flex between air and liquid cooling, achieving the flexibility and energy efficiency our clients required while supporting the high-density computing needed for AI. Our engineers collaborated with Vertivs on this solution, and the initial units are already being deployed. With todays breakneck pace of AI innovation and adoption, this level of close collaboration was absolutely critical to meeting customer demand.
One thing I know for sure: The supply chain can always improve. It can always be more flexible, more efficient, more resilient. Who knows where else well go with these partners, but knowing we share a continuous improvement mindset means every time theres a problem, well roll up our sleeves and figure it out. Temporary challenges always become long-term advantages if you use them to discover better ways of doing things.
A closely-coupled supply chain is the future
Transforming the supply chain takes time, significant effort, and most importantly, mutual trust. Coming together with your suppliers can create transparency. It can also create a continuous improvement mindset. With flexible approaches, you tackle challenges and innovate together. You create relationships that become your competitive differentiator and are valued from the C-suite all the way to the field. Thats what a closely-coupled supply chain means to me, and I wouldnt have it any other way.
Chris Crosby is CEO of Compass Datacenters.
The Fast Company Impact Council is an invitation-only membership community of leaders, experts, executives, and entrepreneurs who share their insights with our audience. Members pay annual dues for access to peer learning, thought leadership opportunities, events and more.
Ive always considered immersive multimedia experiences as a medium that chips away at solitude. But never did I expect wed slide so far down the path of loneliness that it would be considered a global public health concern, an epidemic of loneliness, or a threat as harmful as smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day. Its official: Were living in an age of social isolation.
And, yet, weve never been this connected. Advances in technology have bridged previously insurmountable distances, keeping friends and families in close and constant contact, and given us the ability to build and sustain communities in ways, and on scales, once unfathomable. For many, theyve proven indispensable for sharing ideas, expressing emotions, and offering support. Every single day, billions of text messages ping-pong across the world weaving us into a state of hyperconnection. So, why do we feel so alone?
Connections should be social, not just digital
At the heart of this paradox are two overlapping trends: a growing retreat from the physical world and a deepening plunge into the digital one. The internet has so overwhelmingly overhauled how we relate to each other and our world, that we now think of connections, friends, and engagement as the stuff of digitalnot physicallife. More and more, the same can be said for shopping, playing, working, and dating. Occupied by doom-scrolling for dopamine hits, binge-watching content on demand, and being otherwise swallowed into the glow of our devices, Americans are spending 20% less time socializing in person than they did two decades agoand plenty more within the comforts and confines of their own homes.But humans are social beings that evolved in close, physical proximity to other social beingsand are hardwired to feel better that way. Our need for social connection runs so deep that its been found to be as fundamental as our need for food, water, and shelter. Studies show that simply looking someone in the eyes can synchronize brain waves; physical touch releases feel-good hormones key for comfort and connection; and someones scent can convey their emotional state and trigger empathy in those around them.
More than just a bad feeling or even an epidemic, our loneliness is a valuable sign that we arent spending enough time together. Its telling us that being chronically online may not be enough to combat isolationeven more, it might be getting in the way of the real-world closeness we need most.
Real connection requires real presence
In our digitally-driven world, entertainment that presents a compelling case to leave the comforts of home and gather in the real world, feels more necessary than ever. Grounded in space and in time, immersive experiences create the sense of being part ofand part of creatinga shared reality, unique and precious in its fleetingness.
But immersive experiences arent just about bringing people physically together; theyre about making them feel together, too. After all, havent we all stood in a crowd, surrounded by others, only to feel completely and utterly alone, together?With interactive storytelling, multisensory environments, and digital art stretching into 3D, immersive experiences rely on new technologies to counter some of the very issues theyve been blamed for causing. They invite us to engage with our environment, to feed off each others emotions, to linger in the in-between, and ultimately connect to something real.
The goal isnt an intensity that takes you out of your body, but rather an attention and presence that brings you deeper into itonly to then be collectively transported into something bigger. These experiences have a way of bringing us back to a simple truth: There are some moments that can only be shared in the here and in the now.So, perhaps the real challenge isnt resisting the pull of new technologies, but finding ways for them to inspire connection. Our designs can invite meaningful participation, create moments of empathy, and embrace the wonderfully unfiltered chaos of real life. With each new innovation, what constitutes togetherness will keep evolving. But if we prioritize depth over distraction, and immersion over detachment, the experiences we create can be part of what makes the world a little less lonely, after all.Now, its up to us to design them.
Sakchin Bessette is cofounder and executive creative director at Moment Factory.
As genetic testing company 23andMe heads to bankruptcy court, there is a lot of data at stake. The company, which analyses DNA through its salvia test kits and offers information about customers’ ancestry, health traits, and genetic risks, now seeks “authorization from the Court to commence a process to sell substantially all of its assets through a chapter 11 plan,” according to 23andMe’s press release.
Your DNA data could be part of those assets. A close reading of the bankruptcy docket shows the company’s terms of service appear to allow 23andMe to transfer personally identifiable information in the event of “bankruptcy, merger, acquisition, reorganization or sale of assets.” That could mean millions of customers may have signed away their rights to their own DNA and genetic material without realizing it, paving the way for 23andMe to sell it to whomever buys their assets.
The bankruptcy comes after the company rejected previous acquisition offers; saw a steep decline in market value, in part due to a 2023 data breach that impacted millions of customers; and experienced a fair share of company drama, including the resignation of the board.
If you’re one of the millions of people who shared your DNA with 23andMe, it’s now a good time to delete your data. That’s as New York’s Attorney General issued a rare “consumer alert” on Tuesday urging 23andMe customers to delete their accounts and data, following a similar warning from California’s Attorney General Rob Bonta on Friday, in which Bonta said customers should also ask California-based 23andMe to “destroy any samples of genetic material held by the company.”
23andMe customers take to social media to complain about deleting data
However, as many customers scramble to delete their data to protect their privacy, some are finding that it hasn’t been as easy or straightforward as they had hoped. And they’re taking to social media to air their complaints.
On a Reddit thread, a number of 23andMe customers said they are having trouble actually deleting their data, including Reddit user jacmrose, who complained, “tried canceling and never got the email they are supposed to send to confirm.” Another user responded, “I have tried 3 times over the last few months and NEVER got the email to confirm deletion.”
Over on X, another social media user reported that people trying to delete their 23andMe DNA data are facing website issues, displaying the proof: a photo of an error message.
That same user also shared another observation: “[people] who think they deleted it get a confirmation emailbut buried inside is a link they still have to click to ‘complete’ deletion.”
“Looks like they really don’t want us to delete the data,” that user wrote.
How do I delete my 23andMe data and test sample?
According to a press release from the California Attorney General’s office, here’s how to delete your data on 23andMe:
Log into your 23andMe account on the website
Go to the Settings section of your profile
Scroll to a section labeled 23andMe Data at the bottom of the page
Click View next to 23andMe Data
Download your data: If you want a copy of your genetic data for personal storage, choose the option to download it to your device before proceeding
Scroll to the Delete Data section
Click Permanently Delete Data
Confirm your request: Youll receive an email from 23andMe; follow the link in the email to confirm your deletion request
Make sure to double check your spam box for that confirmation email, or visit 23andMe’s Help Page with any questions.
If you previously opted to have your saliva sample and DNA stored by 23andMe, but want to change that preference to destroy your test sample, you can do so from your account settings page, under Preferences.
If you previously consented to 23andMe and third-party researchers using your genetic data and sample for research, you may withdraw consent from the account settings page, under Research and Product Consents.
If you live in another state besides California, you can also take these steps as a precaution, but check with your local state consumer protection agency for the laws governing your home state.
The car tires, propane tanks, gas generators and rusty appliances heaped on the side of a dirt road waiting to be hauled away filled Desiree Graham with relief.
That means all that stuff is not in peoples yards,” she said on a blustery July day in Kahikinui, a remote Native Hawaiian homestead community in southeast Maui where wildfire is a top concern.
In June, neighbors and volunteers spent four weekends clearing rubbish from their properties in a community-wide effort to create defensible space, or areas around homes free of ignitable vegetation and debris. They purged 12 tons of waste.
Its ugly, but its pretty beautiful to me, said Graham, a member of Kahikinui’s Firewise committee, part of a rapidly growing program from the nonprofit National Fire Protection Association that helps residents assess their communities’ fire risk and create plans to mitigate it.
Kahikinui is one of dozens of Hawaii communities seeking ways to protect themselves as decades of climate change, urban development, and detrimental land use policies culminate to cause more destructive fires.
The state has 250,000 acres of unmanaged fallow agricultural land, nearly all of its buildings sit within the wildland-urban interface, and two-thirds of communities have only one road in and out.
But experts say that even with so many factors out of communities control, they can vastly improve their resilience by transforming their own neighborhoods.
Fire is not like other natural hazards, it can only move where there is fuel, and we have a lot of say in that, said Nani Barretto, co-executive director of the Hawaii Wildfire Management Organization (HWMO), a 25-year-old nonprofit at the forefront of the states fire-risk mitigation.
Neighborhoods all over the United States are wrestling with the same challenge, some in places that never worried about fire before. A recent Headwaters Economics analysis found 1,100 communities in 32 states shared similar risk profiles to places recently devastated by urban wildfires.
A Firewise movement
HWMO helps communities like Kahikinui become Firewise. In the 10 years preceding the August 2023 Maui fires that destroyed Lahaina, 15 Hawaii communities joined Firewise USA. Since then, the number has more than doubled to 31, with a dozen more in the process of joining.
Everyone was like, My God, what can we do?’ said Shelly Aina, former chair of the Firewise committee for Waikoloa Village, an 8,000-resident community on the west side of the Big Island, recalling the months after the Maui fires.
The development heavily wind exposed, surrounded by dry invasive grasses and with just one main road in and out had already experienced several close calls in the last two decades. It was first recognized as Firewise in 2016.
As HWMO-trained home assessors, Shelly and her husband Dana Aina have done over 60 free assessments for neighbors since 2022, evaluating their properties for ignition vulnerabilities. Volunteers removed kiawe trees last year along a fuel break bordering houses. Residents approved an extra HOA fee for vegetation removal on interior lots.
Measures like these can have outsized impact as people in fire-prone states adapt to more extreme wildfires, according to Dr. Jack Cohen, a retired U.S. Forest Service scientist.
The solution is in the community, not out there with the fire breaks, because those dont stop the fire in extreme conditions, said Cohen.
Direct flames from a wildfire arent what typically initiate an urban conflagration, he said. Wind-blown embers can travel miles away from a fire, landing on combustible material like dry vegetation, or accumulating in corners like where a deck meets siding.
Theyre urban fires, not wildfires, said Cohen.
The solutions don’t always require expensive retrofits like a whole new roof, but targeting the specific places within 100 feet of the house where embers could ignite material. In dense neighborhoods, that requires residents work together, making community-wide efforts like Firewise important. The house is only as ignition resistant as its neighbors, said Cohen.
Communities can’t transform alone
Even with renewed interest in fire resilience, community leaders face challenges in mobilizing their neighbors. Mitigation can take money, time and sacrifice. Its not enough to cut the grass once, for example, vegetation has to be regularly maintained. Complacency sets in. Measures like removing hazardous trees can cost thousands of dollars.
I dont know how we deal with that, because those who have them cant afford to take them down, said Shelly Aina. The Ainas try offering low-cost measures, like installing metal screening behind vents and crawl spaces to keep out embers.
HWMO helps with costs where it can. It gave Kahikinui a $5,000 grant for a dumpster service to haul out its waste, and helped Waikoloa Village rent a chipper for the trees it removed. Its been hard to keep up with the need, said Barretto, but even just a little bit of financial assistance can have an exponential impact.
You give them money, they rally, she said. We can give them $1,000 and it turns into 1,000 man hours of doing the clearing. HWMO was able to expand its grant program after the Maui fires with donations from organizations like the Bezos Earth Fund and the American Red Cross.
At a time when federal funding for climate mitigation is uncertain, communities need far more financial support to transform their neighborhoods, said Headwaters Economics’ Kimi Barrett, who studies the costs of increasing fire risk. If what were trying to do is save people and communities, then we must significantly invest in people and communities, said Barrett.
Those investments are just a fraction of the billions of dollars in losses sustained after megafires, said Barrett. A recent study by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Allstate found that $1 in resilience and preparation investment can save $13 in economic and property lossesnbsp;after a disaster.
Another hurdle is asking residents to do work and make sacrifices as they watch others neglect their role. The neighbors will ask, What about the county land?’ Theres no routine maintenance, said Shelly Aina.
Her husband Dana Aina said he reminds people that it is everyones kuleana, or responsibility, to take care of land and people. An island is a canoe, a canoe is an island, he said, quoting a Hawaiian proverb. We all have to paddle together.
Bigger stakeholders are starting to make changes. Among them, Hawaii passed legislation to create a state fire marshal post, and its main utility, Hawaiian Electric, is undergrounding some power lines and installing AI-enabled cameras to detect ignitions earlier.
Meanwhile, Firewise communities have found that doing their own mitigation gives them more clout when asking for funding or for others to do their part.
After the 66-residence community of Kawaihae Village on Hawaii Island joined Firewise, they were finally able to get a neighboring private landowner and the state to create fuel breaks and clear grasses.
Without that we wouldnt have been on anyones radar, said Brenda DuFresne, committee member of Kawaihae Firewise. I think Firewise is a way to show people that youre willing to help yourself.
Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the APs collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of APs philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.
Gabriela Aoun Angueira, Associated Press
While the high cost of eggs has been a persistent issue in President Trumps second term, a different kind of egg price is now raising eyebrows around America. Over the weekend, CNN reported that the Trump administration is soliciting corporate sponsorships for this years White House Easter Egg Roll.
For anywhere between $75,000 and $200,000, companies can now have their logo prominently displayed during the April 21 event, along with further branding opportunities. Its only the latest sign that this presidency is quite literally open for businessand coming so soon after a recent Tesla infomercial on the South Lawn, it may have completed the NASCAR-ification of the White House.
According to a pitch document shared by the New York Times that appears to be from event-planning company Harbinger, which produced the egg roll throughout Trumps previous term, the White House is offering initial planning and event day execution for companies who are hungry for brand exposure this Easter. Sponsors will reportedly have a chance to nab naming rights for key areas or elements, splash their logos on event signage and custom-branded baskets, snacks/beverages, or souvenirs and also offer custom on-site activation for participating children to use while making social media content.
(The White House and Harbinger have not confirmed the authenticity of the document. Fast Company has reached out to the White House and Harbinger and will update if we hear back.)
Partnerships between the White House and corporations are not exactly unheard of. The Biden administration, for instance, partnered with McDonalds in 2021 to encourage Americans to get vaccinated, while Barack Obama hosted the first White House Maker Faire in 2014, featuring STEM tool kits provided by LEGO Systems. Brands have even been involved in the Easter Egg Roll before, though the White House has reportedly been careful about logo use and appearing to endorse a business. A gauche avalanche of logos stands to turn this years adorable White House event into something more like last Decembers College Football Playoff’s Vrbo Fiesta Bowl at State Farm Stadium.
At the $200,000 levelthe Platinum sponsorship packagebrands can get prominent logo placement and all the bells and whistles mentioned above, along with 150 tickets to give away, a chance to participate in press interviews, and four tickets to an exclusive brunch hosted by Melania Trump. (Oh, and theres a meet-and-greet with the Easter bunny on offer. Literally.) While not every brand can afford such a sponsorship, either from a liquidity position or because their customers wouldnt stand for it, plenty will jump at the opportunity. Considering it reportedly costs between $375,000 and $500,000 to sponsor a lower-tier college bowl game, and somewhere in the range of $25 million for one of the majors, the publicity value of an egg roll sponsorship is kind of a steal.
Theres also the unspoken promise of what else brands might get out of their sponsorship.
Although any excess funding raised from egg roll sponsors will reportedly go toward similar future White House events, it also potentially buys a big, public, double-thumbs-up from Trump himself. Beyond the crass commercial opportunity, though, sponsorship also comes with a tacit understanding that these brands may find themselves in good standing with the presidents team and his supportersand perhaps even receive further access or influence for their efforts. The pitch document from Harbinger suggests flat out that brunch with the First Lady also comes with exclusive access opportunities.
There were similar chances to curry favor with Trump during his first term. At least 11 foreign governments patronized the moguls properties in his first year as president, during which he bucked his predecessors tradition of severing ties with their businesses while holding office. Domestic forces also dumped funds in Trumps coffers at the time. Between 2017 and 2020, private-prison operators, payday lenders, and other interest groups hosted fundraisers and galas at his hotels, clubs, and resorts.
Meanwhile, Essential Consultants, a company run by Trumps then-attorney Michael Cohen, also brought in huge sums of money from such companies as AT&T, Swedish pharma giant Novartis, and Korea Aerospace Industries. Exactly what insights AT&T got for its $600,000 is unclear. Perhaps not so coincidentally, though, the company was waiting on a decision at the time from the Justice Department over a proposed merger with Time Warner. (The decision ultimately went AT&Ts way.)
In Trumps second term, any pretense around his impartiality to donations has all but vanished. At the very least, its been frozenmuch like the anti-bribery statute keeping U.S. corporations from bribing foreign officials, which Trump suspended earlier this year.
The vulgar display of the Tesla endorsement that found Trump morphing into a Troy McClure-style celebrity pitchman to help out his largest donors sinking stock? Thats just the tip of the iceberg. Ever since the election, Trump has signaled loudly, if not clearly, that his White House is accepting gratuities. Earlier this year, members of the tech Broligarchy, including Metas Mark Zuckerberg and Amazons Jeff Bezos, donated to Trumps inauguration fund before appearing alongside him at the eventwith Bezoss Amazon going a step further and dishing out a reported $40 million for a Melania Trump documentary, from which she stands to personally net at least $28 million.
At the same time, the president has reportedly been holding million-dollar-per-seat candlelight dinner fundraisers at Mar-a-Lago, and any interested party can potentially also get his attention just by pumping money into Trump’s official memecoin.
The White House Easter Egg Roll Proudly Presented By [Your Brand Here] is only the latest opportunity for corporations and their owners to show fealty to the president. Its also a bellwether of what future White House events might look like. If enough companies chip in, giving the event more brand logos than Jeff Gordons jumpsuit, well, perhaps Netflix and Amazon will eventually be duking it out to win exclusive broadcast rights for The White Houses A Very Trump Christmas Spectacular.
For now, the president has merely told all interested parties: Gentlemen, start your engines.
