Jill created an app that helps you reverse the negative effects of every other app. Can technology with limited functionality help you be more mindful? And more importantly, is that cool?
"It really represents spending time away from feeds and thinking deeper about our days so that we can share what actually matters with the people who actually matter to us."
Listen to Jill’s submission featured in Episode 87 of How Cool Is This? and read a transcript of the full 5 minute podcast episode below:
Jill: Hey everyone. I'm Jill, and I'm the Founder of Sundayy, which is a mindfulness-based social network designed to be checked once a week on Sunday.We launched at the start of January [2021].
I built it after using social media for a few years and trying to monitor and cut back the time that I spent on Facebook and Instagram. But I realized that even cutting back 40 minutes a day into 10 minutes, I still didn't like the time that I was spending on those social networks.
So I looked around for something that was a bit more mindful and a bit more minimalist that I could actually use to stay connected with people, you know, that wasn't about never-ending feeds or attention hijacking notifications. And when I couldn't find something, I decided to build my own, which is Sundayy.
It's centered around mindful reflection, and each day throughout the week, you're prompted to slow down and write about what the day's brought you. Each time you reflect, those reflections are kept a secret until the end of the week on Sunday, when they’re revealed.
So each day you're reflecting, you're writing about your day, and your buddies are doing the same.
I've been using Sundayy over the last few months with close friends and family, and we just launched it publicly. For me, it really represents spending time away from feeds and thinking deeper about our days, so that we can share what actually matters with the people who actually matter to us.
So, yeah, if you want to try out Sunday, you can join on Sundayy.app.
If you sign up today and it's a Tuesday or a Wednesday, you're prompted to create a reflection for that day. And then that's it, that's all you do.
Leave us a voicemail @ 848-863-9917
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Brian: Nick, how cool is Sundayy, the mindful social network?
Nick: I love that Sundayy comes at trying to be mindful from a more unique perspective, which is ‘Don't use our app. Use our technology less, and that'll help you feel more mindful.’ It's really counterintuitive for tech to present itself that way.
Brian: I feel like a lot of ideas are cool and well-intentioned, but they're not designed to actually meet that goal of being cool or being mindful. And this seems like it has that design in place, which doesn't always happen.
Nick: Right. It's easier to be cool in theory than it is to be cool in practice.
Brian: Yeah, and I think it is in some regard and anti-Facebook which she calls out has never-ending feeds and attention hijacking because its business model is dependent on users being involved. She actively doesn't want people to use this app.
Nick: Which I love, but is that ultimately going to mean that Sundayy won't be used by that many people?
Brian: It sounds like it was something that she personally felt she needed but didn't exist, so she built it, which is cool.
Nick: Yeah
Brian: So perhaps there are others who feel that same way
Nick: Some of the greatest inventions of all time have come from people that said, ‘I need this thing. It doesn't exist, so I'll just make it myself.”
Brian: Such as the telephone or the fire.
Nick: What do you think about the idea of an app that is really only useful one day a week? You can only view your reflections on Sundays.
Brian: I have ideas. I have things that are interesting, and I don't do anything with them because I'm so caught up by the next thing to refresh. Having some type of dedicated space to see at a bird's eye view how my week was would be really useful and beneficial.
Nick: Is it worth the download if you're only going to use it one day a week?
Brian: I might forget to use it is the problem, but if I put it in the place of one of my old apps, I might be able to reprogram myself to do something more mindful.
Nick: Yeah. I mean, that's ultimately the goal, and Sundayy feels like a pretty good first step in terms of changing your habits to be more mindful. It's something that I want to do and, I'll probably download this app and give it a shot.
Brian: Any other thoughts on Sundayy, mindfulness, or the anti-Facebook social network before we depart?
Nick: Anything that's anti-Facebook, anything that is undermining the current state of social networks, I think is incredibly cool. And I'm glad that, instead of coming at social networks from an abstinence-only perspective, you know, ‘Don't use them. Don't log on…’ Jill came up with an idea. It's like, here's a new social network that is just going to help you be more mindful.
Brian: She's not saying, ‘Hey, Facebook sucks.’ She's saying, ‘Hey, Sundayy is better.’ And that's cool.
Nick: Incredibly cool.
Learn more about mindful social networking at Sundayy.app. And, delete that dumb Facebook account already!
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