The Healing Power of Experiences

Ideas
By
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October 30, 2024

The loneliness epidemic. It’s deadly, it’s unruly, and it isn’t going anywhere until we are able to shake new cultural norms that are significantly impacting our mental, social, emotional and physical wellbeing.

But, here’s the good news: I’m here to tell you that there is a medicine that has the power to heal us, transform us, and ultimately give us the resilience to combat loneliness. 

This medicine is what I like to call: experiences.

WE’RE ALL LONELY PHONE ADDICTS

Over the past 4 years, we’ve gone from a COVID-19 pandemic to a loneliness epidemic where new cultural norms sparked from years of isolation have us now trading in our relationships for phoneships as a way of being and living.

If you don’t believe me, just look at the numbers. 

And if your mind isn’t blown yet, the science behind this type of engagement is even more concerning. These brief bursts of dopamine releases when engaging with our phones and social media create a vicious, addictive cycle of false pleasure that negatively impacts our mental health. This creates extreme levels of anxiety, depression, and feelings of loneliness — which has led to 1 in 4 people reporting they experience social isolation and between 5-15% of adolescents report experiencing loneliness. 

Social health has now reached a tipping point, so much so that the World Health Organization has declared social isolation and loneliness as a public health problem and our Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy has sounded an alarm on the dire consequences loneliness has on our health. 

In Dr. Murthy’s book Together, he compares loneliness to smoking fifteen cigarettes a day and states that people without enough strong social connections are at higher risk of stroke, anxiety, dementia, depression, suicide and more.

Simply put: our world is in a crisis. But, I’m about to tell you that there’s hope.

A SHIFT TOWARD HUMAN FLOURISHING

Despite all of these challenges, there’s a yearning to enrichen life as we know it. According to a study done by Wunderman Thompson, 77% of people want to awaken their senses to feel alive, 91% of people want to feel more emotion in their lives, and two thirds of people expect brands to help them feel those intense emotions.

Meanwhile, Joe Pine, co-author of The Experience Economy, has declared that we are shifting toward a transformation economy where people expect experiences to ultimately help them flourish and become the best version of themselves. 

So, why does this matter? Science proves that we as experience creators can help people flourish and feel something greater than themselves, if and only if, we design experiences around emotion.

THE HEALING POWER OF EXPERIENCES

One of my favorite concepts I heard recently this year was from a pioneering architectural designer and the founder of Reddymade, Suchi Reddy. At World Experience Summit, an annual summit dedicated to improving the quality of experiences, Suchi talked about her own belief that “form follows feeling”. It shook me at my core and could not be more true. 

Whether it’s incorporating sound frequencies in an activation to immediately reduce stress, weaving in colored lighting to boost happiness, or pumping scent into a room to transport your audience to a destination that triggers nostalgia — experiences have so much power in positively shaping how we feel. Because when we feel, we think differently, and therefore, we act differently. 

But, I think the most profound insight around experiences are it’s healing and transformative effects — especially experiences that help us feel like we belong. Just look at collective effervescence. A term coined over 100 years ago by Emil Durkehim, it’s a phenomenon that proves what happens when we come together over a shared purpose: our immune system increases, our kindness and empathy goes up, and oxytocin (the love chemical) floods our systems. These euphoric bonding moments lead to greater personal development, decreased levels of anxiety and depression, and ultimately gives us the resilience to combat loneliness. 

In other words: experiences are medicine. It’s not only why doctors have begun prescribing museum visits to address loneliness, dementia, and many other physical and mental health concerns, but also why many brands are creating experiences that are intentionally dedicated to improving people’s wellbeing. Here are some of our favorites lately:

  • Meow Wolf’s Submersive, a 25,000-square-foot therapeutic spa in Austin that will feature video projection, immersive art, steam, lasers, and AI technology. Brinkerhoff’s ultimate goal is to use neuroscience to help visitors achieve elevated states of mind, like awe and euphoria. 
  • Marshmallow Laser Feast’s Forest Bathing: Lupana is a multisensory installation that brings the public to the lush presence of a Lupana tree, waterfall, and tropical downpours. By aligning with cutting-edge research, the initiative aims to create an intentional space that significantly improves mental and physical wellbeing through the experience that saturates the senses through spacial audio, light and rain machines.
  • Charlotte Tilbury’s Future of Fragrance Experience is an immersive pop-up event transporating visitors into the worlds of six different mood-boosting scents, backed by 40 years of research and neuroscience.
  • Four Season’s Laughter Yoga is a simple and playful way to flood the body with oxygen and prompt a natural sense of joy by boosting the brain’s serotonin levels while getting some exercise along the way.

CREATE BETTER, EVERY DAMN DAY

So, when I think about the world, and our role as experience creators, I can’t help but think about the profound impact of what we do every day: by designing better experiences that have a positive impact on the lives of the people we’re designing for, we ultimately can change the world. 

That’s a lot of power but also a lot of responsibility. And at XDA, we couldn’t be more up for it. Because this is what our XDA brand platform — Create Better — is all about. It’s not just a belief in a better way. It’s a call to action to go out and design better experiences that create better worlds for the people we’re designing for. Period.

Because let’s be real: if we aren’t improving lives and changing the world, then what the hell are we even doing here?

WHO IS XDA STRATEGY?

Hi! We’re XDA Strategy — a group of creative scientists, story-doers, and emotioneers dedicated to using research, science, and human truths to transform stories into shared experiences that produce the most powerful chemical of all: shared loved. Interested in hearing more? Reach out and let’s chat.

‍

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Jessica Weickert
10.30.24

The Healing Power of Experiences

The Healing Power of Experiences

The loneliness epidemic. It’s deadly, it’s unruly, and it isn’t going anywhere until we are able to shake new cultural norms that are significantly impacting our mental, social, emotional and physical wellbeing.

But, here’s the good news: I’m here to tell you that there is a medicine that has the power to heal us, transform us, and ultimately give us the resilience to combat loneliness. 

This medicine is what I like to call: experiences.

WE’RE ALL LONELY PHONE ADDICTS

Over the past 4 years, we’ve gone from a COVID-19 pandemic to a loneliness epidemic where new cultural norms sparked from years of isolation have us now trading in our relationships for phoneships as a way of being and living.

If you don’t believe me, just look at the numbers. 

And if your mind isn’t blown yet, the science behind this type of engagement is even more concerning. These brief bursts of dopamine releases when engaging with our phones and social media create a vicious, addictive cycle of false pleasure that negatively impacts our mental health. This creates extreme levels of anxiety, depression, and feelings of loneliness — which has led to 1 in 4 people reporting they experience social isolation and between 5-15% of adolescents report experiencing loneliness. 

Social health has now reached a tipping point, so much so that the World Health Organization has declared social isolation and loneliness as a public health problem and our Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy has sounded an alarm on the dire consequences loneliness has on our health. 

In Dr. Murthy’s book Together, he compares loneliness to smoking fifteen cigarettes a day and states that people without enough strong social connections are at higher risk of stroke, anxiety, dementia, depression, suicide and more.

Simply put: our world is in a crisis. But, I’m about to tell you that there’s hope.

A SHIFT TOWARD HUMAN FLOURISHING

Despite all of these challenges, there’s a yearning to enrichen life as we know it. According to a study done by Wunderman Thompson, 77% of people want to awaken their senses to feel alive, 91% of people want to feel more emotion in their lives, and two thirds of people expect brands to help them feel those intense emotions.

Meanwhile, Joe Pine, co-author of The Experience Economy, has declared that we are shifting toward a transformation economy where people expect experiences to ultimately help them flourish and become the best version of themselves. 

So, why does this matter? Science proves that we as experience creators can help people flourish and feel something greater than themselves, if and only if, we design experiences around emotion.

THE HEALING POWER OF EXPERIENCES

One of my favorite concepts I heard recently this year was from a pioneering architectural designer and the founder of Reddymade, Suchi Reddy. At World Experience Summit, an annual summit dedicated to improving the quality of experiences, Suchi talked about her own belief that “form follows feeling”. It shook me at my core and could not be more true. 

Whether it’s incorporating sound frequencies in an activation to immediately reduce stress, weaving in colored lighting to boost happiness, or pumping scent into a room to transport your audience to a destination that triggers nostalgia — experiences have so much power in positively shaping how we feel. Because when we feel, we think differently, and therefore, we act differently. 

But, I think the most profound insight around experiences are it’s healing and transformative effects — especially experiences that help us feel like we belong. Just look at collective effervescence. A term coined over 100 years ago by Emil Durkehim, it’s a phenomenon that proves what happens when we come together over a shared purpose: our immune system increases, our kindness and empathy goes up, and oxytocin (the love chemical) floods our systems. These euphoric bonding moments lead to greater personal development, decreased levels of anxiety and depression, and ultimately gives us the resilience to combat loneliness. 

In other words: experiences are medicine. It’s not only why doctors have begun prescribing museum visits to address loneliness, dementia, and many other physical and mental health concerns, but also why many brands are creating experiences that are intentionally dedicated to improving people’s wellbeing. Here are some of our favorites lately:

  • Meow Wolf’s Submersive, a 25,000-square-foot therapeutic spa in Austin that will feature video projection, immersive art, steam, lasers, and AI technology. Brinkerhoff’s ultimate goal is to use neuroscience to help visitors achieve elevated states of mind, like awe and euphoria. 
  • Marshmallow Laser Feast’s Forest Bathing: Lupana is a multisensory installation that brings the public to the lush presence of a Lupana tree, waterfall, and tropical downpours. By aligning with cutting-edge research, the initiative aims to create an intentional space that significantly improves mental and physical wellbeing through the experience that saturates the senses through spacial audio, light and rain machines.
  • Charlotte Tilbury’s Future of Fragrance Experience is an immersive pop-up event transporating visitors into the worlds of six different mood-boosting scents, backed by 40 years of research and neuroscience.
  • Four Season’s Laughter Yoga is a simple and playful way to flood the body with oxygen and prompt a natural sense of joy by boosting the brain’s serotonin levels while getting some exercise along the way.

CREATE BETTER, EVERY DAMN DAY

So, when I think about the world, and our role as experience creators, I can’t help but think about the profound impact of what we do every day: by designing better experiences that have a positive impact on the lives of the people we’re designing for, we ultimately can change the world. 

That’s a lot of power but also a lot of responsibility. And at XDA, we couldn’t be more up for it. Because this is what our XDA brand platform — Create Better — is all about. It’s not just a belief in a better way. It’s a call to action to go out and design better experiences that create better worlds for the people we’re designing for. Period.

Because let’s be real: if we aren’t improving lives and changing the world, then what the hell are we even doing here?

WHO IS XDA STRATEGY?

Hi! We’re XDA Strategy — a group of creative scientists, story-doers, and emotioneers dedicated to using research, science, and human truths to transform stories into shared experiences that produce the most powerful chemical of all: shared loved. Interested in hearing more? Reach out and let’s chat.

‍

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