Tag: human

Categories
web3

Taking Back Control: Why Web3 Matters for Our Mental Health


Taking Back Control: Why Web3 Matters for Our Mental Health

Feeling powerless online isn’t just annoying — it quietly wears us down. I often wonder, how much control do we really have over our digital lives? About 70% of Americans say they don’t feel in control of their online data, and more than half worry regularly about their privacy. That sense of helplessness can stir up stress, anxiety, even depression. It’s hard to feel okay when you’re constantly worried about being watched or taken advantage of online.

That’s why I believe Web3 offers something meaningful — not just in a technical sense, but as a mental health lifeline. It gives us back ownership over our digital identities. See me pointing towards the future, where we, as individuals, take back the reins from the tech giants and decide for ourselves what we share, who we share it with, and under what conditions.

I like when I feel at ease online and in charge. For example, when I’m setting up my own website — deciding what to post, how to present myself, and knowing I can remove whatever I want, whenever I want. It’s freeing — a space that feels truly mine, without some algorithm choosing what matters. It’s a reminder that, just like offline, our mental well-being online thrives when we have a sense of agency.

Of course, none of this will happen automatically. We need to build these systems with ethics at the core. We have to stay ahead of the next wave of surveillance. I hear, tools like Zero-Knowledge proofs offer some exciting possibilities for protecting personal and health data — but I guess they’re not magic. If any of you have played around with them or seen their limits in action, I’d love to hear from you. Because really, we need to keep asking: are we building a web that respects our humanity, or one that just finds new ways to exploit it?

Caring about soft values in tech isn’t nerdy — it’s just common sense. The web should reflect our values and dreams; we spend so much of our lives there.

And yet, I can’t help but smile at the irony of it all. We’re turning to the very technology that fed our sense of powerlessness to help us reclaim autonomy. It’s like using a hammer to fix another hammer — sometimes, the fix comes from the same place as the problem.

What parts of your digital life make you feel most in control today?

Categories
web3

From Coffee Farmers to Soccer Coaches: How Web3 Is Quietly Rewiring Communities Worldwide


From Coffee Farmers to Soccer Coaches: How Web3 Is Quietly Rewiring Communities Worldwide

What is Web3 actually for? What purpose does it serve, at its core? Really!? I was happy to see that Web3's most meaningful impact is about people. It's about solving real human problems, reflecting local needs, and creating systems that help communities thrive. Let me take you on a quick global tour.

In Honduras, small coffee farmers are using Dimitra's blockchain platform to prove their beans meet European sustainability rules. That traceability lets them sell at better prices and reach bigger markets. In Peru, the Mi Cacao Project is doing something similar for cacao, using blockchain to track quality and connect to global buyers. These systems give farmers credit for their hard work and open doors that were once closed. These are innovative and useful developments.

In South Africa, Bitcoin Ekasi is building a local Bitcoin economy inside a small township. Youth soccer coaches get paid in Bitcoin, and local shops accept it for daily needs like groceries. It's a way to bypass slow, expensive banks and build financial freedom at the community level.

In Kenya, Pezesha is offering microloans to small businesses using blockchain. Youth-led startups can borrow small amounts, matched through a digital platform, with loans paid out in stablecoins. Since 2017, over 20,000 businesses have tapped into this system, creating opportunities that traditional banks overlook.

These examples all show how blockchain adjusts to fit local needs, but they also point to some shared themes: tracking where things come from, making sure people can get the information or tools they need, and letting the community have a say in how things are run.

Furthermore, India is running experiments using blockchain to secure public benefits. I hear that land titles, welfare payments, and digital ID records are being put on blockchain systems to reduce fraud and make sure help reaches the right people. This gives individuals more control over their data and makes government programs more trustworthy.

The EU is building systems to issue blockchain-based diplomas, certificates, and digital IDs. People’s degrees will be stored in a secure digital wallet that any university or employer across Europe can instantly verify. These projects help individuals own and control their digital records without relying on big companies or middlemen.

Through Gitcoin, a global Web3 project, communities pool funds to support public goods like open-source tools, educational resources, and climate projects. Anyone can pitch in a small crypto donation, and projects that attract broad community support get extra matching funds. It's a new, democratic way to fund what people truly value, powered by collective action.

These Web3 initiatives are not by any means a complete picture of what is happening across the world. But as I step back, I see a familiar pattern.

Every major industrial revolution — from the printing press to the steam engine to electricity and the internet — gained global adoption not just because the technology existed, but because it met deep human needs.

The printing press spread because people wanted access to knowledge. Electricity transformed cities because it made life safer and better. The internet exploded because people wanted to connect and share. Web3 is no different: it will thrive only where it serves real people in real ways. Yes, I hear you — cryptocurrency adoption will (unfortunately) also thrive on the basis of pure speculation… but money is money, right?

Yet, as I see it, Web3's potential doesn't come from the technology itself. It comes from what people choose to do with it. Local needs, social challenges, and shared values are what push this technology forward. Whether it's financial inclusion, fairer trade, transparent governance, or community-driven innovation, it's people who shape the purpose of Web3. Web3 is clearly a social shift that should follow what we want to do with it.

Categories
web3

You’re Not Just a User — You’re a Relationship: How the Next Web Is Changing the Game


You’re Not Just a User — You’re a Relationship: How the Next Web Is Changing the Game

The future of the web wants our intimacy, not just our attention. I’m looking forward to it, but I also need to ask: what kind of intimacy are we creating between platforms and people? Because when every interaction, every recommendation, every moment online is increasingly shaped to fit us — our moods, our needs, our desires — we can be easily manipulated.

For years, the internet has run on the attention economy. We all know the drill: viral trends, endless scrolling, pings, likes, and shares. We’ve lived inside this machine, and we know how it leaves us feeling scattered, exhausted, and disconnected. No thanks.

But now, with the rise of AI and Web3, the web is slowly shifting. It’s increasingly not just about grabbing attention anymore — it’s about building personalized, intimate relationships with each user.

It’s a promising development. The shift from the attention economy, which prioritizes capturing and monetizing user attention, to the intimacy economy, which values meaningful and emotionally resonant connections, is paving the way for a more human-centric digital future. A platform that seems to truly “know” you can feel comforting, even meaningful. And its profitable as studies by Epsilon show that 80% of consumers are more likely to purchase products or services from brands that offer personalized experiences.

”…It’s fascinating, enjoyable, and scary when every interaction, every recommendation, every moment online is increasingly shaped to fit us — our moods, our needs, our desires.”

But here’s my concern: when intimacy is designed by algorithms and driven by market incentives, it can slip into manipulation.

”Greed is not going anywhere… and hyper-personalization can shape our behavior for profit.”

A clear sign that the intimacy economy is sliding into manipulation is when platforms anticipate not just what we want, but what will keep us hooked. For example, when a platform sends us offers or notifications at moments when we’re most vulnerable, or creates fake urgency to make us act fast, that’s not about real connection; that’s about control. When the system is designed more to pull value out of us than to support us, intimacy turns into a tool for exploitation.

I see myself having a deeply psychological discussion with AI, and after gently manipulating my weaknesses, it suggests that I should purchase medication from a medical company (who bought my data). That’s worse than what social media is doing today. Please let me own my data and privacy with the use of web3 technology. On a deeper level, I wonder how can we prevent intimacy-focused platforms from becoming exploitative under the guise of consent-driven engagement?

”Who truly benefits from these personalized experiences?”

We need to know that they can also heighten anxiety, reduce real-world connection, and erode our sense of what is deeply meaningful in reality. We risk trading authentic, messy, human relationships for sleek, curated digital ones that keep us in a loop of consumption and reaction.

If we want Web3 to be more than just a decentralized attention machine or a more advanced tool for manipulation, we need to build systems that respect the complexity of human experience and ensure our platforms help us thrive — creating spaces we truly want to live in.

Categories
web3

Toward a Genuine Web: Why Platforms Like LinkedIn Must Change


Toward a Genuine Web: Why Platforms Like LinkedIn Must Change

If we truly want the Web to serve humanity, we have to think beyond cryptography and protocols. We have to consider how the technology is impacting our attention. Why? Because where our attention goes, our experiences, relationships, and dreams follow — and if our systems exploit our attention, they exploit us.

Our attention is truly going toward the digital. Studies show that some spend ~7 hours daily on screens, often multitasking on work and social media. We have all experienced that our attention is a limited resource. When it’s overtaxed by pings, alerts, and endless feeds, we lose our focus, empathy, and agency. This is the state in which we become easier to manipulate, easier to exhaust. Yes — easier to sell to as well.

If we think about it, how technology actually impacts our behavior is very much an ethical issue. If the web is fundamentally built to scatter our focus and make us easy targets for market forces, then I would say that it is not built on genuine freedom. Instead, it's just an extension of the data- and attention-grabbing philosophy of the web we are experiencing today.

”Even decentralization is pointless if the web is designed to scatter us — because it doesn’t matter who owns it if we’re still losing ourselves.”

When we come in contact with easy-to-use apps or programs, we feel a sense of ease. But we need to go deeper to respect our limits and needs when we create our web.

Building a human-centric web means:

  • Building systems that refresh attention, not deplete it.
  • Designing tools that encourage reflection and intentional action — not just endless engagement.
  • Allowing people to choose when and how they participate, without being trapped in addiction loops.
  • Protecting the human mind as fiercely as we protect private keys.

I am sure you’ve felt it many times. It often feels like we’re trapped in a never-ending loop of fleeting digital trends — a viral dance on TikTok, a meme that everyone reposted, or a Twitter debate that dominated the conversation for a few days. These moments flare up, saturate our feeds, and then disappear. Great. But then they’re replaced by the next dopamine-triggering distraction. As this continues, we need to ask ourselves: what do we actually carry forward from them?

I took a look at the research, and I’m not surprised. Studies over the past five years show that this cycle of short-lived virality, fueled by algorithmic ranking and public validation metrics like “likes,” is taking a real toll on our mental health.

In short: constant exposure to high-stimulus, rapidly shifting content has been shown to fragment attention, elevate anxiety, and foster compulsive scrolling behaviors that leave users feeling more drained than connected.

What’s more, social media’s gamified feedback loops — likes, shares, views — deepen our dependence on external approval, reinforcing a culture of performance over presence.

”I like the idea of being able to turn off "like" counts or de-emphasize ranked feeds — especially on LinkedIn.”

LinkedIn is supposed to be about real professional connection. But the way it's built often pushes people to perform for attention instead of having real conversations. Something as simple as hiding like counts or letting people turn off the ranking of posts could make a big difference. It would help bring LinkedIn back to what it says it’s about — thoughtful sharing, real insights, and growth. People could post with more honesty and less pressure, without always comparing themselves to others.

In doing so, it disrupts the attention economy’s grip on our mental bandwidth and opens the door to a healthier kind of professional networking. That’s a step toward Web3 as it would give people more control and use it with more purpose.

I get that companies want our attention and our data. But if we don’t defend attention in the future of our web, even Web3 won't defend our freedom.

Categories
web3

The Web Should Feel Like Home — Not a Wild Safari


The Web Should Feel Like Home — Not a Wild Safari

If we’re serious about the Web that we are building, the roadmaps shouldn’t feel like sprint plans filled with technical upgrades. They should be blueprints for a society we’d be proud to call home. Picture me pointing to the horizon.

I’m sorry if I’ve been the one raising uncomfortable questions about the web we’re building. But I’m doing it because I want us to create a web that hugs and kisses us — a web that sees us as human beings first.

In the not-too-distant future, I see a town square where everyone who shows up has a voice — not just the tech-savvy, the loudest, or the wealthiest.
My neighbor Carina feels a real sense of belonging because she can participate meaningfully and actually participate in her digital community.
Honestly, I don’t imagine it happening inside a DAO, but rather on a social platform where she owns her own voice — her own data.
Yes, there’s still a corner for whitepaper discussions too, because technology must always serve human needs.

The smiling faces of people participating through beautifully simple design say it all.


A truly decentralized world doesn’t just open the door; it makes sure everyone can walk through it and stay and even address what’s wrong. Just because some parts may be immutable does not mean they should be unflexible to what is good for society. People evolve and so does society and technology needs to follow us, not the other way around.

As the sun settles over the village, I see people having interacted with the web for fun but also to save time for activities in reality.
After all, on our deathbed, having spent time with our closest friends and family is what we’ll have considered most important in life.

”I see a world where kids learn digital literacy like they learn to ride a bike — naturally, joyfully, safely. Not like releasing them into a wild safari.”

A world where the web works with our lives, not against them. Where technology in the hands of the youngest builds focus and curiosity, not addiction and exposure to casino-like platforms.

Above all, I see a web where young and old can create, collaborate, and unwind — without asking for permission or paying a heavy fee.

In other words, the web should feel like a natural extension of existence, not a hostile territory we have to tiptoe through.

I’m not being idealistic — it’s just common sense.
Web3 must be built, governed, and cared for with the best of our humanity. Not a place with hidden predators, stampeding herds, and unexpected twists around every corner.

Categories
web3

Why We Need Socrates in Our Web—and 3 Things His Friends Would Say


Why We Need Socrates in Our Web—and 3 Things His Friends Would Say

Web3 is many things: fast, creative, chaotic, sometimes profound, occasionally unhinged. It’s the future of our web. Its values of freedom and libertarianism are promising, but we need the annoying, relentless, sandals-wearing guy who refused to shut up until people asked better questions. Here’s what Socrates and his friends can do for our dear web.

I think Web3 needs to look backward, not just to the future. It’s optimizing systems that might not even be pointed at a world we’d want to live in. Sometimes it feels like a future without philosophy? A well-funded digital confusion.

In my work within health and wellness, I create courses within personal development and try to learn from the brightest minds of history. I know, Socrates wouldn’t audit the code of the web—he’d audit its intent. He’d show up in governance forums and ask if the definition of “community” includes anyone who can’t afford to buy in. He was all about being human-centric.

He’d be the one raising his hand to ask, “What do we mean by ‘freedom,’ exactly?” I feel that most people would find him annoying, but this is the kind of questioning we need to know where we are going, what we are building, and how we relate to the values of Web3.

Because if we don’t ask these questions, here’s what we risk building:
• a metaverse full of real estate speculation and zero community.
• a DAO that votes to evict tenants and calls it “alignment.”
• a social token protocol that turns human connection into yield.

Perhaps that future would be technically flawless. But it would also be ethically void. I’ve said it before: code cannot be law, because it would have forgotten how to listen.
Just because it’s decentralized doesn’t mean it’s good. No, not everything needs a token.

”We want the roadmap of Web3 projects to look like a philosophy of life that we actually want to live in.”

Kierkegaard said, “Life can only be understood backwards, but must be lived forwards.” Web3 lives very forward. It launches first, governs later, audits if we’re lucky. Remember, philosophy can be highly practical. In Web3, it can be a way to add hindsight before the crash.

Shannon put it more bluntly: “We may have knowledge of the past but cannot control it; we may control the future but have no knowledge of it.” So it’s obviously smart to build with both.

Every protocol needs a philosopher-in-charge. Nope, not a mascot. But a real existential auditor. Someone to ask: Who benefits? Who decides? Is this freedom, or just a new kind of control?

Just as we need our closest friends to raise their concerns when we do wrong or have lost our track in life, we need Socrates’ friends to ask necessary questions when we build our digital life:

“Just because it’s permissionless doesn’t mean it’s harmless.”

“Immutability is just stubbornness if you can’t admit when you’re wrong.”

“A protocol with no pause for reflection will automate a future no one meant to build.”

Yes, it’s about looking around before falling completely into the hands of hyper-fast innovation. Every societal development needs to occasionally consider re-orientation to remain aligned with its soul.