Advocating for Women Around the World MEET WHITNEY WOLFE HERD
This experience pushed Wolfe Herd to challenge dating norms, and she wanted to inspire women to take their power back. Although Bumble is known for allowing women to message their matches first, this only scratches the surface of Wolfe Herd’s branding and marketing strategy. The app has grown beyond just dating — now, you can network professionally and find new platonic friendships. Wolfe Herd is focusing more on creating a brand that fosters a safe place for women to network — she wants it to be a women’s social platform.
Editor’s Note: The following article mentions sexual assault.
Dating apps are very popular with the younger generation, and one app has taken the world by storm. Bumble Inc. was created in 2014 by Whitney Wolfe Herd and is an online dating platform where women get to message their matches first. Just two hours after Bumble launched, its stock price soared, making her a billionaire. She is now one of the top female CEOs in tech and the founder of one of the largest dating apps in the world.
Wolfe Herd’s experience with toxic and abusive relationships and misogyny within the tech industry inspired her to create Bumble. She was the co-founder of Tinder in
Today, Wolfe Herd is pushing Bumble into cultures and countries where women don’t traditionally have a
voice. Although this may seem risky, she says, “We need to go where we’re needed the most.” She is also using
2021, another dating app, but she soon left the company after an
executive (who was also her boyfriend) sexually harassed her. Wolfe Herd then sued
her platform to advocate for legislation outlawing domestic and international digital sexual harassment. Wolfe Herd wants women to take control, and she will stop at nothing until she reaches her goals.
Tinder over these allegations, but Tinder denied any wrongdoing. Eventually, both parties settled.
OVERCOMING INATTENTION STRATEGIES TO FIGHT DISTRACTION
With our phones always on standby, we’re more easily distracted than ever. Then there are also interruptions by coworkers or family members, emails or instant messages that divert our attention, household chores that will “only take a minute,” coffee breaks, and daydreams. Constant distraction hurts us more than we realize, creating a feedback loop of inattention. It’s time we understand what all this multitasking is doing to our minds and figure out how to break the cycle. No matter how good you think you are at it, multitasking doesn’t exist. What we’re really doing is called task-switching. Our brains can concentrate on only one thing at a time, and the quicker we go back and forth between tasks, the less we pay attention, and the more likely we are to make mistakes. Even worse, research says it takes us a whopping 23 minutes to regain our concentration after being interrupted.
But what can you do? If you’ve ever been on a diet, you know that willpower has its limits. Simply promising you won’t check your email or phone rarely results in long-term success. But if technology is a big part of the problem, it can also be part of the solution. Try putting your email or phone notifications on silent. Or, consider a website blocker to keep you off distracting websites and an app that will lock distracting features on your phone. Low-tech solutions like a “do not disturb” sign and putting your phone in another room can also help. And mental tricks can still have their place. You probably tend to become productive when you’ve got a deadline crunch, and there’s a reason for that. Tasks have a way of stretching out unnecessarily when we don’t have to follow any restrictions. So, make some! Determine how much time you need to complete a task, and then don’t allow yourself anymore. Ask a
colleague for help staying accountable. You’ll be amazed at how much you get done.
Though we each have to fight our own battles, this isn’t entirely our fault. Popular apps make billions of dollars by sucking our attention away from everything else, so we’re automatically at a disadvantage. And there may be even more than meets the eye. If you have difficulty concentrating, stress could be the underlying culprit. Get that under control, and distractions might suddenly lose some of their allure.
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