Premium Friction

"Real-time conversations are exhausting. You can't edit what you say, you can't take time to craft the perfect response, you can't just ghost if it gets uncomfortable." – 18yo, Male, LA.

There is a growing inability to cope with, or unwillingness to deal with, the friction that is inherent to most real-life social interactions (i.e. disagreement, discomfort, annoyance).

Microtrends are finally losing their grip. In a shift away from fast, flashy content, fashion lovers are leaning into slower, deeper engagement. We’re entering the post-dopamine era where consumers crave meaning, not just a quick hit. Think: fewer impulse buys and aesthetics that actually retain attention.

Industry veterans attribute the drop to a mix of economic pressures, production constraints, and Gen Z’s (alleged) disinterest in on-screen sex. As Masters of Sex creator Michelle Ashford notes, many streamers are instead opting for “vanilla” programming meant to offend no one and appeal to everyone.

Instead, she seeks friction, referencing Kyla Scanlon’s recent interview for The Ezra Klein Show : “There’s value in things being a little bit difficult,” Scanlon said.

But when the stopwatch stops, we flip. We crave other people. Leisure is a hall of mirrors, and only another mortal can polish the glass. A robot could throw perfect strikes forever, but no one would pay to watch. We want the thrill of potential failure. The human tremor that turns repetition into story. Stockfish calculates deeper than Magnus Carl... See more

We hate other people when latency becomes intolerable. As soon as a task is about speed, other humans feel like an irritating inconvenience. The Uber driver’s small talk annoys us. We wish we were in a Waymo. The cashier’s tip screen feels like a micro-ransom when all we want is a bottle of water. Elevator operators, switchboard attendants, bank te... See more

But when ease becomes the default measure of value—when “fast” and “frictionless” are always better, we lose something critical: the slow, inconvenient texture of real life and real relationships.