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Steve Dean, "super-connector" and Founder of Dateworking, NYC Salon, and Hygge, sits down to discuss his journey from exploring over 250+ dating apps, what it means to be a "super-connector", loneliness and digital friendship, the importance of offline connection, boundaries of privacy, the "cost" of rejection, paying $$ for people's attention, and whether or not monogamy is dead?
**COVID-19 UPDATE**
This was recorded prior to the epidemic in the U.S. All of Steve's platforms are now virtual, so I strongly encourage you to sign up and stay connected.
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INTERVIEW QUESTIONS:
- Tell us about dateworking, nyc salon, and hygge.
- Is there any common thread or connection between these? How did you get involved in creating these? And why didn’t you just stop at one?
- Tell us briefly about how you got here. You went to swathmore college. You were an honors student in political science and public policy. The optics of that looks like a government job or a consulting role in a private company. How did you end up being a community builder?
- I have several topics i want to ask you about:
- Loneliness and millennials. We live in a virtually connected age, yet loneliness and depression are on the rise dramatically. Why do you think this is? Aren’t we all supposed to feel connected with each other?
- Especially in today’s world, people have their public/social media persona or projected image, and their true self, which are often not aligned with their true thoughts and feelings. According to Instagram, everyone is rich, beautiful and living on a secluded island somewhere. No one is apparently struggling. So when we meet someone and then look them up online, are we setting ourselves up for disappointment? How are we supposed to process social media information?
- What’s the biggest barrier you find that people struggle with in forming relationships, whether its romantic, professional, or just friendship? I feel like sometimes with millennials they need a bit of structure and hand holding in forming relationships. Almost like we’re in the fourth grade again and being forced to play with each other in school.
- Lets pivot to dating for a second. I have to ask you about monogamy and polyamory. This is something write about a lot. Millennials seem to have popularized the concept of open relationships. I don’t think this is a new concept for this audience, but essentially that means being in a relationship with multiple people at once, is my understanding. Is monogamy dead? Why, in your opinion, can’t people be committed to one person?
- What is something you wish someone had told you 5 years ago, or you had told yourself, that you had to learn on your own? But would have made life so much easier had you known.
- How can people get involved and learn more about you?
