Wonder is the way to explore content far beyond your current awareness, through recommendations of what people most want others to discover.
Each person can recommend a single piece of content of any medium. It should be something deeply meaningful, content that has impacted you most, not merely something good you saw recently.
After choosing, you’ll write about why the piece is meaningful to you and worthwhile for others to experience.
On the real Wonder app, you’ll have a feed that gives you posts consisting of the recommended content and an explanation of why that content was meaningful to the poster. For now, the feed is a weekly newsletter, which will contain a post that someone submits in the “Make a Post” section below.
Have you ever finished a book and felt grateful you found it?
Is there a story you continue to draw inspiration from?
What have you learned, what do you believe, and what has shaped you that you wish others could experience too?
The impact of what we’ve found inspires us to search for more like it, and makes us wonder what we have not yet found. It urges us to explore. Exploration is not merely venturing into the unknown, it is deliberately choosing one’s path. It is not merely exposing yourself to new content, it is intentionally choosing your content.
The content we choose matters. It shapes what we become. Imagine who you would be without books, TV, social media, academic journals, websites, movies, ads, Youtube, or podcasts. It’s impossible. Content shapes us whether we want it to or not, reinforcing and altering what we believe, what we care about, and what we go on to pursue. More subtly, it shapes what feels normal and what seems possible — even what we consider questioning.
However, we can only select from the miniscule fraction we’re aware of. We rely on external aids – feeds, suggestions, and search algorithms – to select and surface information for us. How these systems surface information determine what we become aware of, which defines and constrains our choices. Our choice of content then shapes who we become. The system that selects our content strongly influences our development, so we should use them carefully.
Social media algorithms are designed to capture our attention, so they show us content that is most easily digested, often burying deeper or more meaningful options. Algorithms appeal to our current opinions, preferences, and assumptions, stifling access to new concepts and perspectives. These new ideas are essential for growth – for content to be meaningful – which is the inspiration to explore in the first place.
Choice requires us to reflect, critically examine what we see, and intentionally decide what to do next. Infinite scroll and other deliberately designed features make reflection extraordinarily difficult, while remaining unaware of how the algorithm picks content or what options exist beyond what you’re shown prevents you from intentionally choosing content. Social media is not designed to help you explore. It is designed to capture your attention, and in the process takes away a powerful opportunity for you to shape who you become.
Wonder exposes you to what you wouldn’t find on your own, not to what you’re familiar with. It prioritizes what people value most instead of what has engaged the most people. Wonder doesn’t give you content, it helps you choose it.
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Subscribing to the newsletter and sharing your feedback is all I ask – if you do I am truly grateful. Beyond that, I’m not an experienced coder, so I’ve been hiring Shawn Williams from Natlogix. His prices are reasonable, but I’ve been asking him to do a lot of work. If you’re overflowing with excitement and gratitude, you can help cover the costs of building the app. Any help is appreciated. (Venmo is Lars-Boddie)
