Why Clubhouse makes sense right now.

Last night, I took part in my first clubhouse event, thanks to my friend Luke Robert Mason, and it really was a lovely experience.

It followed a few intense days of switching out my research time from TikTok to Clubhouse, trying to get to grips with what makes the experience worthwhile. Over the course of our session — which was all about where humanity was going and our relationship to time — a few things really struck me as to why Clubhouse is doing so well.

1: We’re burned out with video

The end point of our televisual culture culminated with TikTok, the hyper-televisual medium which has us channel hopping every 15 seconds to something new and, eventually, scrolling through ‘live’ events, where there is an endless stream of people who, if prompted, will say your name and make you feel part of something bigger than just you. But this is exhausting and endless, frequently TikTok users speak of having spent hours just scrolling through content — like we did with Facebook, but worse. Additionally, a year of Zooms means we really need to switch off the cameras and worry less about how we look. Clubhouse provides respite from this, along with being able to engage with content without having to be attached to our screens. We can move freely and still participate/enjoy the content.