Highlight and Kindergarten

Do you remember what it was like making new friends on the kindergarten playground at recess? The standard modus operandi was just to go up to another kid that looked interesting and say tentatively, "Wanna be friends?" That was great. Wonderfully direct and inimitably effective. No concern about whether  it was worth developing a relationship if you might not see them again - you were probably stuck on that playground for the foreseeable few years. You two went and ran around the playground for half an hour - if you had a blast (usually) then awesome - if not, then you just didn't play with them much - no hurt feelings. Either way you learned something.

I think Highlight (<highlig.ht>) makes the world a little more like a kindergarten playground. Go install the app if you haven't already. Other people with the Highlight app nearby (a couple blocks or so) generate notifications when they post a note or if you are friends or share a friend on another social network (Facebook, Linkedin). Knowing when interesting people are around and happy to interact diminishes the anonymity and loneliness of a city. It facilitates impromptu interactions. Variety is the spice of life, right?

Furthermore, as Highlight is just getting started, it's much more likely that the early-adopter user base has installed the app because they are the kind of people who are very OK with randomly meeting up with interesting people.

Hooray for new friends! Hooray for meeting up more often with the old!



credits: lcshu