Creating human connections in the digital age
It is a fact that the way we relate to each other has changed thanks to technology. Kennedy remembers that, five years ago, it was not so accepted to meet someone on a dating app, while today it is already very common. “There was a stigma that is now changing,” he mentions.
And he confesses that something similar happened to him while creating Peanut. “There was a sense of fear because… Is this the new way we’re going to make friends? but there was evidence that people wanted it.” She thinks the biggest problem of the modern age is loneliness, and if she can do something to make people feel a little less lonely, why not?
And it is that, nobody more than another woman, who is in the same stage as you, will understand what it means to stop at three in the morning, tired and alone, to breastfeed your baby. If you’re feeling down right now and you know you can grab your phone and join another woman who’s doing the same thing, it can make it a little easier.
But what makes us able to create connections with other people? Kennedy admits that if he hadn’t worked in the dating, she would not have managed to create this product because she identified three main aspects:
- Have something in common: this is one of the most important aspects. Whether it’s a personal taste, an activity, a stage or a situation, having something in common with another person makes it easier to establish a connection.
- Women are more demanding: “As women, we have very high standards. We want a product that is beautiful, that works well, but above all, that understands our needs and that our expectations are high”.
- Women share: “when we like something, we tell everyone. We recommend it. We are influencers by nature.
How does Peanut work?
Peanut was born in 2017 and Kennedy admits that, to create this app, she had to listen a lot to the needs of women and the main objective is “to create a safe space to find friendship and support”.
You don’t necessarily have to be a mom to be part of the community; when you sign up, the app asks what stage you’re in and you can choose “fertility”, “mom-to-be”, “mom”, “menopause” or “none of the above”.
For this, the app has several functions sections:
The first is similar to how it works in apps like Tinder or Bumble, it is used to find friends. The interesting thing is that you can filter depending on the stage you are in; For example, you can find a friend who is in her first trimester of pregnancy, or the one who already has a two-year-old son and chat.
They also have “communities and groups”, where you can find more women who are interested in the same thing as you. For example, fitness, lifestyle, dance, politics, fashion, technology…
Additionally, there is a section of “Pods” or podcasts in which, similar to Twitter spaces, women can start a conversation or follow one that has already started.
It includes an “experts” section, which has doctors, therapists, sexual and marital psychologists, in which women can write their doubts and they will be answered. Something that the app also offers are numerous guides.
The application was only available in the United States, but now it has arrived in Mexico and is available for both Android What iOS for free .