THE DEN

linkedin, we need your help. Whisper it, but this little beauty of a space in North London might be coming our way (with a following wind). It's our favourite sort of canvas. A blank one. More details to follow when we don't feel like we're tempting fate...🙏 But we do need the wisdom of this amazing crowd to support us, whether with this space or another. To get from the twinkle in our eye, the dream of what we know THE DEN can be, to a design brief that we know teenagers will love, and that has vibrancy dripping from its every plug socket and door hinge, we need to find a brilliant experiential creative consultant who can partner with us, and put our esoteric thoughts through a critical, culturally cool, creative and youthful lense. Someone who spends every heartbeat thinking about experiences, spaces, architecture, hospitality and what makes them irrestible, irrepressible, and incredibly cool. Someone with their finger firmly on the pulse of global cultural relevance and what brings people together, particularly amongst the next generation. Someone up for a loose brief, probably on an ad hoc basis, and who understands how important giving our teenagers incredible spaces to socialise IRL is for the future if our society. And someone early in their career who's ready to make their mark, and be part of the journey to create the world's first youth hospitality brand. If anyone springs to mind, please comment below, or DM us?

Linkedin is a place full of people who spend their lives seeking to 'understand their audience'. But what happens when you are no-one's audience? What happens when you aren't a valuable consumer, valuable voter, valuable donor or funder? The next generation are no-one's audience today. They are everyone's audience in the future. But, in times of increasing short-termism, increasing financial pressure, we all know today takes precedence over tomorrow. Short beats long. So what happens if you are no-one's audience today? No-one seeks to understand you. No-one seeks to create the things that meet your needs. You aren't a solution for next quarter's growth deficit, profit gap or opinion poll disaster. So you are disregarded, ignored, and quite frankly royally shafted by 'the market' 'government' and 'society'. You don't matter. If you are no-one's audience today, then no-one is thinking about, or fighting to create what you need. I don't know what our teenagers can do to make their voice any louder, but I'm damn sure we need to start listening to their cries. Add your voice now to make theirs louder. www.irlrevolution.co.uk #IRLrevolution ##teenmentalhealth #youtheconomy #startup #entrepreneurship https://lnkd.in/esR_9MV7

It's not often that a world-renowned social psychologist and best-selling author like Jonathan Haidt swings into town. So when we heard he was holding court at The Union Chapel, Islington recently, we decided to head over and pick his brains on what needs to be done to solve the teen mental health crisis. We started by asking him how important it was to create spaces for young people to socialise together in real life. Here are just a few of the things he said... 👉 ‘It is 100% vital to do that.’ 👉 ‘Kids need third spaces. They are over-supervised at home, over-supervised at school. They need places to hang out.’ 👉 ‘If we get entrepreneurs here to fill the need… that would be transformative.’ He then went on to describe the concept behind THE DEN as exactly the sort of entrepreneurial model to fill the gaping void in youth services left by government (thanks in no small part to the magnificently well-connected Jessica Butcher MBE who outlined our vision to him over lunch earlier that day!) 🙏 You can get the full down-low on the latest post on our #IRLrevolution blog (below). Vive la IRL Revolution! 👊 https://lnkd.in/eyrhbKyS

In a week where Nokia's new 3210 'dumbphone' was launched with the moniker 'JOMO' (joy of missing out). In a month where 3/5 Gen Z wanted to be 'Less connected' (according to Mintel) A year where Freya India wrote so evocatively about 'anemoia' - a nostalgia for an 'in-real-life life' way of connecting that this generation have never had. And in the face of the launch of the #IRLrevolution in the UK... ...this new creative from apple is shocking in its total inability to READ THE ROOM. I wouldn't want to point to that as the main reason Apple sales are falling, or why Apple has lost its #1 spot for smartphone sales, but with the inexorable march towards a life walled in by screens, digital experience coming between us and the world in just about every creative and social space, it does feel like Apple is now at the forefront of driving the dystopian future it once railed against. Vinyl sales are at their highest in decades. Retro arcade games enjoying a huge renaissance. I definitely consider an afternoon where my kids muck about on instruments and get messy with paint as just about the best sort of afternoon. We need life-in-real life. In decades to come no-one will tell misty eyed tales of long weekends spent on Ipads. And you know it don't you? You know that your competition is IRL. You know it so clearly that you just played it out globally in an advert. shame on you. #IRLrevolution

NO, NO, NO, NO NO! I'm sorry, I couldn't agree with this LESS. The problem with smartphones and their impact on teenagers is that they insert a screen between teenagers and the messy madness of real-life relationships. That they get between teenagers and time spent socialising face-to-face. That they have taken away from our young people the privilege of mucking about. Learning about who they are, who they like, who they want to be (and how that changes). Learning about what they want to do, what they're scared to try, what to do when things go wrong, and what makes things feel oh so right. But that's because smartphones, screens and social media are the only options we've left our teenagers with for a welcoming space where they can 'socialise' freely. Even if it is a facsimile of real-life socialisation. Everywhere else they're moved along, frowned at, threatened or even just rained on. It's no wonder they've disappeared into the relative comfort of their bedroom and a smartphone. This generation of young people needs access to MORE time TOGETHER in WELCOMING, unstructured environments, where they're safe to take social risks, free from judgement and threat. But forcing teenagers to spend more time 'behaving themselves' in structured, highly supervised and inherently performative environments is NOT the solution. Our teenagers need somewhere they're safe to kick-back, chill-out, and muck-about together. NOT more time in school.

Jonathon Haidt's new book is out tomorrow. And we can't wait to read it. The TL:DR? These are the 5 things we need to do to make sure the anxious generation does not become the anxious society: 1️⃣ Don’t give a smartphone as the first phone. Give a dumb-phone or smart watch if you need to communicate with your child. 2️⃣ Don’t give a smartphone until high school.  3️⃣ Don't open accounts on social media platforms until the beginning of high school (at least). 4️⃣ Do give children far more time playing with other children. 5️⃣ Do look for more ways to embed young people in stable real-world communities.  Online networks are not nearly as binding or satisfying. The 'don'ts' seem obvious. But then 'don'ts' always 'do', don't they? It's the 'dos' that need the focus. Every stick needs a 🥕. If we're to help our teenagers walk away from their smartphones, we need to give them something to walk towards... .....a safe, inspiring space where teenagers are free to be together and be themselves? A community in real life, built on a shared belief that life is more fun face-to-face? Unbeatable games, unmissable events and the unadulterated pleasure of letting your hair down on FOMO Friday with a bubble tea and banging tunes from the infinite jukebox? That? Yeah? #IRLrevolution #teenmentalhealth #anxiousgeneration #youthhospitality #startup #SEIS #EIS https://lnkd.in/gFZmbF9m

If you're the parent of a teenager, we'd love to get your thoughts on this super-quick survey, to help us make THE DEN as brilliant as it should be. If you aren't, we absolutely guarantee you know someone who is, so please do reshare this post! Give us your wisdom by clicking below 👇 https://lnkd.in/gJuPGjpD

🎩 Hats off to Gaby Hinsliff for this excellently observed article about the generation of teenagers who are retreating into the isolation of their bedrooms & screens in the absence of any better alternatives. Our teenagers deserve better than this. That’s why we’re creating THE DEN… the world’s first youth hospitality brand. Incredible venues for 12-17s, giving them a kick-ass alterative to their screens and a kick-start to their social confidence. Vive la IRL Revolution ✊ #IRLrevolution #youthmentalhealth #youthentrepreneurship #startupfunding https://lnkd.in/eGJMEygw

Thanks for having us Chichester College! 🙏 So excited to be partnering with your brilliant architecture & interior design students, along with Anne Rhind & Sally Williams at StudioARIN. Can’t wait to see your creative ideas next week… 🙌 #byteenagersforteenagers #IRLrevolution #youthentrepreneurship #hospitalitydesign