manifesto
Socializing Digitally Sucks
Why Digital Engagement needs to be rethought Ground-Up
"From social media to games, to messaging apps, all supposedly designed to connect us, it’s never been harder for our generation to feel like we truly have a voice or are being heard."
Existing tech giants are far too stuck up to listen to us. What they do well is monetize the time we spend using their products, without caring about what we—the next-gens—want. They made their fortune by targeting our parents, believing that our interests are just a linear evolution of needs, but that is wrong. We are digital natives. Our way of socializing is not yours. In redefining fun, and unlike the generation in the past who was new to all-things-internet, we have a stronger opinions about the digital world
We are extremely aware that we are taken advantage of in the role of users to generate content , centralizing value for apps, so they can sell our data, and attention for them to profit. That’s over now. That’s not a threat, but a fact!
- Samuel NDB, Cognitive Science Major at UCLA
Why is it so hard to belong?
In a world with more data and apps than ever before, why is it so hard for screen-agers to belong? How come I feel alone with over 2k followers? The internet and digital engagement possibilities as we know them today were designed for a generation which—almost 25 years after the boom of the first internet wave—is (let’s face it) “too old” to thrive in the next version of digital, social paradigms. We screen-agers under age 24 are growing disenchanted with companies that continue driving “old style” digital engagement tactics and benefits systems. And we are very disturbed about a series of things:
These questions are logical and simple for us. The answers are frustratingly complex.
● Why am I categorized as a ‘follower’? ● Why all these invasive ads? ● Why trust tech if you sell my data? ● Why false promises of connecting when we drift apart? ● Where is the ‘we’ in ‘I’ share, comment, like? ● Why am I throttled to self-express? ● Why am I imposed default interactions? ● Why are most flows predictable and repeatable? ● Why either ‘friend’ or ‘unfriend’?
The good thing is that at the same time we as a generation are collaborative enough to make this shift into a new way of engagement work together, if … you only STOP serving me what you served the previous generation, DON’T categorize me to follow like a sheep herd, and start LISTENING TO ME.
We are neither traffic nor visitors or followers! We are the essence of what keeps your lights on! We are your partners
- Arissa Zhengh, UC Berkeley M.E.T.
Digital engagement needs to be rethought ground-up
So we built 'vyry'
In collaboration with students, we developed
the world’s most engaging platform - for the next-gen to socialize.
We deliver the most rewarding and collaborative - ad-free - creator platform to those generations who seek to redefine cultural expression in the era of composable and immersive media. ● We believe that opportunities to digitally socialize should be contextual and bespoke – anytime, anywhere – and nobody deserves to no longer be de-classified as a follower. ● We believe that multisensorial experiences, being physically immersed with impacting all our senses, will be the surprising variability factor that activates the brain's reward system, which enhances motivation and pleasure. Inverting the mental health struggles of anxiety and depression we are suffering with current social networks. ● We believe that data should be legally owned by the users - and its digital property rights should allow us to decide with whom to engage and in exchange for what.
If digital engagement were built today, it would feel completely different.
Bespoke. Screenless. Decentralized.
As technology and generation evolve, we must realign false, outdated beliefs by breaking patterns.
Our Vision
To merge the physical and the digital worlds to derive enhanced value from our everyday lives.
A world where every user is a co-creator of a physical-digital dimension. A dimension seamlessly integrated into our real world, where the laws of physics do not apply, where anything that surrounds you can be playfully interacted with, and where the only limitation is the imagination of the human mind. A world where people, products, and places are merged, while owning the rights to our digital footprint. For next-gen to inhabit the internet, to live surrounded by, and not swipe through. A novel way to socialize with like-minded peers, to create the unimaginable, and to discover the unseen.
To transform digital engagement from the ground up, together.
We have invented technology that seamlessly integrates with everyday life as an extension of our real-world, to transform mundane, repetitive interactions, into collaborative, rewarding experiences, while having complete digital property rights. Imagine living your daily routines in ways you never thought possible.
How we do it
Transform what you see
We kick off things by providing a mobile app that transforms pictures into playful experiences. Things like brushing your teeth, eating your breakfast, your fashion, your beauty products, your car, your gadgets, your commute, and your school become the theme to socialize with like-minded peers, where the real world serves as an augmented canvas playground.
Be the creator
Imagine Vyry in its early phase as a blend of PokemonGo and Minecraft/Roblox.
Why like PokemonGo? Explore real-world surroundings. Be the art director of your quest theme and assets. Automatically generate 3D assets based on your images.
Why like Minecraft/Roblox? Unleash your digital creativity with endless possibilities.
Easily create immersive, interactive, and composable digital assets. Collaborate with peers to co-create experiences for others to discover and interact with.
Meet like-minded pals
Vyry suggests like-minded peers in your vicinity you can invite to be a “game acquaintance / pals”. No need to be a friend, follow, or like. You both (or multiple) have the same interest in Tacos, Knitting, and Sneakers - and are ideally locals? All right - I guess there is a match. Let’s collaborate on a quest in our vicinity. Let’s swap and create something we can add onto our real-world canvas
Own Your Data
And at the base of all this, we developed state-of-the-art technology for you to own your digital footprint. Your identity - yours. Your content - yours. Your values - yours. Strong digital property rights allow you to truly own and control your digital assets, giving you more freedom and opportunities to create, trade, and benefit from your contribution.
At Vyry we understand ourselves as a tech startup at service to the next generation demanding digital engagement to be rethought from the ground up.
Looking forward
In the next few decades, we believe that advances in Spatial Computing and smart glasses, AI and Blockchain will transform the way we live our lives without separating the digital and the physical. Socio-behavioral patterns will no longer evolve linearly; instead, novel sociopolitical and socioeconomic dynamics will emerge. A new economy is arising where creativity, traceability, and ownership will supercharge humanity to trust more, create more opportunities, and therefore have an abundant spirit to love more.
In Conlusion
We want to leave you with a thought. Once you finish reading this manifesto take a second – pause and look around.
Every innovation in its early stages sounded like a gimmick - that’s the nature of things the mind can’t envision. But only things that sound fundamentally different, have the potential to change things. Permit yourself to think freely, unleash the entrepreneur within, and ask yourself: ‘What if whatever I am looking at, whatever is surrounding … what if an unseen layer as an extension of our world does truly exist, where you can be its co-creator - where I can practice a new way to socialize … Would you be curious to explore it?
vyry
Live Playfully
If your answer is: absolutely yes - we want to invite you to contribute from day zero. ● You can either join the waitlist ● Join our team (Student interns are welcome year-round) ● Or simply drop us a line And if you are skeptical, no worries, we understand it’s a lot new to digest! We love you … appreciate you reading this … and we will for sure meet you, sooner or later, in a phygital dimension!