Social Friction & Non-committal people.

Have you ever hit up someone you vibed with in person to hang out and got a “Maybe” back? Days go by. No follow up. 

You run into them again. They are still really warm and want to hang. You make another attempt at coordinating a time and place. No reply. Or the reply comes - days later after the weekend is over. After this has happened multiple times with different people, I’ve reluctantly come to accept that it’s perhaps a pervasive social norm - to be noncommittal. 

Or maybe you are that person that doesn’t commit to plans. You’re juggling a bunch of things personally and professionally. Life is throwing you curveballs and maybe you don’t feel like socializing. Or, you’re just a spazz - You may read a text and totally forget to respond.

The logistics of adult friendships is challenging. We’re all busy, tired, uncertain, and maybe a little burned out from the logistics of planning to hang out and texting. 

I have a little saying that goes - the Hangout needs to be longer than the Commute. Traffic, tolls, and finding parking - all add to the challenge of meeting up with people. The benefit of hanging out with neighbors is that you don’t have to worry about driving, parking, and/or uber-ing. Also, if they cancel and/or are running late, you’re waiting in the comfort of your own home. 

Our app doesn’t solve all forms of social friction and the problem of people being non-committal, but it does break the ice for people to connect digitally. I am still in touch with people that I met from the proof of concept I made - and not all of them respond all the time. However, since we just don’t have a shared building anymore, I can’t run into them easily - unless the stars were to align.