George Mack

My favorite question in 2023:

What is ignored by the media -- but will be studied by historians?

Here's the 9 best examples: 

1. The Silent Fentanyl Pandemic

• Overdose is the leading cause of death in under 45's (Replacing suicide)

• Covid killed 8,900 young people in 2020. Overdoses killed 49,000. (2/3rds Fentanyl)

• In 2022, police seized enough Fentanyl to kill every adult and child in America 

2. The Rise Of Negative Media

Since 2010, the media massively increased headlines that use fear, anger, disgust, and sadness.

It's no surprise the media isn't covering this 😅 

Why has the media become more negative?

"Blended study of 105,000 headlines and 370 million impressions concludes "each additional negative word [in a headline] increased the click-through rate by 2.3%"

H/T @DKThomp 

3. The Homeschooling Boom

In 1971, 78,000 kids were homeschooled in America.

In 2021, 5 million kids were homeschooled in America.

Why is homeschooling booming? 

Thoughts:

→ Zoom classes during the pandemic gave parents an insight into the state of the education system.

→ One-size-fits-all approach doesn't make sense.

Prediction: There will be a billion-dollar homeschool company created in the next 10 years.

4. Chat-GPT Is A Wrecking Ball For The Current Education System

• GPT-4 can do homework and already pass a huge range of exams

• The average 11-18-year-old is technologically savvier than the average 35+ teacher

• The education curriculum notoriously takes years to update. 

5. The Mating Crisis:

• Men under 30 reporting no sex in the last year rose from 8% in 2008 to 28%.

• Women under 30 reporting no sex rose from 9% to 18%.

H/T - @ChrisWillx

(This graph might be correlation rather than causation) 

6. Male Testosterone Levels Plummeting:

Some studies are pointing towards the following in men:

1. Testosterone levels dropped 20% in the last 20 years.

2. Sperm counts have plummeted by 59% from 1973.

So few conversations about why this is happening. 

7. Don't Ignore India:

• 2023 is the year India becomes the world’s largest population.

• Indians are the number one users of Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and WhatsApp.

• India was the fastest-growing large economy in 2022 

• In 2017, there were 357 million Indians online (27% of the population). In 2022, there were 840 million Indians online (60% of the population)

• In 2021, India exported more in software ($133 billion) than Saudi Arabia did in oil ($113 billion) 

8. The Rise Of The First Teenage Billionaire

Ryan Kaji is 11 years old.

He reviews toys on Youtube.

In 2020, he made $26 million and was the highest-paid YouTuber.

He was 9 years old at the time. 

Prediction: You will see the first self-made teenage billionaire in the 2020's.

Why?

1. Technology drives the economy. Younger people are technologically savvier.

2. Stripe now allows 13+ year-olds to start a business

3. Rise in homeschooling means kids will start building businesses earlier

4. The ability to do this with just a smartphone and an internet connection:

https://x.com/george__mack/status/1582355983526789121?s=20

9. The Great Social Media Merge

• In 2016, if you wanted to go viral - you needed a separate strategy for every single platform

• In 2023, you can use the same vertical video and go viral across every platform

Under-discussed: All social media platforms are merging together.

In 2016, short-form vertical video barely existed exist.

In 2023, they will average 200+ billion views per day 🤯

"This is the first time in the history of western social media that one form of content can go viral across every single platform" - @MrBeast w/@lexfridman 

Effects of the Great Social Media Merge:

1. Creators will go from obscurity to the most Googled person on the planet in months. (Lots of recent examples of this)

2. Social media will have 10x the impact of the last 2 elections.