Hinge founder and CEO Justin McLeod took part in an interview with Quartz magazine as part of its “The World In 50 Years” series.
McLeod was asked several questions about how he thinks technology will have advanced by 2070 and what impact that could have on the way humans connect and interact.
Firstly, he believes social media companies will be the most important businesses, but also expects them to change the way they operate. McLeod explains that they currently “generate growth by preying on our vulnerabilities” and keeping consumers addicted to the product, and he hopes they will be committed to serving deeper human needs.
He also hopes that in the future screens could become obsolete. In fact, it is his biggest prediction that augmented reality should provide humans with a more personal way to remotely interact, rather than just through a series of notifications.
McLeod told Quartz: “We will look back on today with shock at how tethered we were to our phones—the same way we now look back on the prevalence of smoking (only it’s so much worse, because we’re all doing it, almost all the time).
“I hope we’re all telling stories to our grandchildren about how most of our time was spent staring at screens instead of with one another—and they’re looking at us in disbelief.”
Turning to more dating-specific questions, the Hinge CEO anticipates choosing a long-term partner might become a “data-driven decision” rather than based on “a fleeting gut decision”.
While this may sound unromantic, the idea is that dating apps could encourage these analytical decisions to be made, in order to increase compatibility.
Finally, he said love is going to become the most valuable resource because the continued growth of technological capability will lead to material goods becoming commodities.
The story of how McLeod met his wife featured in the second episode of the Amazon Original series ‘Modern Love’, starring Dev Patel.
Read more here.