Society accepts adults playing organized sports or strategic board games but overlooks the mental health benefits of unstructured, silly play like tag or hopscotch. For many adults, especially non-athletes, this lack of pure, purposeless play contributes to stress and a yearning for childhood joy.
Rising stress drives adults towards nostalgic play. Businesses can capitalize on this by creating hybrid experiences that merge adult sophistication with childhood fun. An example is a high-end restaurant with a vintage arcade feel, described as 'Board games and Bordeaux', offering a sophisticated form of escapism.
Gary Vaynerchuk predicts every item and service sold online, from steaks and plane tickets to luxury cars and multi-million dollar apartments, will eventually be sold through live shopping formats. He sees it as an inevitable evolution that will 'eat up the universe' of e-commerce.
While people lament the lack of physical 'third spaces' (places outside home and work), the root problem is mental. A new location won't cure loneliness if people don't first adopt a mindset of play, joy, and community. The emotional state must precede the physical solution.
Arguments that consumers won't buy sensory items like fragrance via live shopping are the modern equivalent of 1990s claims that people would never buy groceries online because they 'need to squeeze the tomato.' Live video interaction can actually enhance the selling of such products compared to a static webpage.