TECH & TRENDS // HEALTH AND WELLNESS
🧠📵 DIGITAL DETOX… DUMB DEVICES… THE ERA OF APP-STINENCE: FLIP PHONES ARE COOL AGAIN. As tech addiction spikes, a surprising rebellion is taking hold — the hottest new status symbol? Devices that don’t do everything.
—> GEN Z: MOST CONNECTED, MOST BURNT OUT: Sixty-eight percent of Gen Z adults say they’re addicted to their screens—more than any other group by 9+ points. Now they’re leading the shift to “dumb devices.” Full generational breakdown of self-reported tech addiction:
GEN Z (18–29): 68%
MILLENNIALS (30–44): 59%
GEN X (45–59): 53%
BABY BOOMERS (60+): 49%
—> APPSTINENCE IS THE NEW SELF-CARE: Among those very likely to swap their smartphones for flip phones: Highest rates of fear and anxiety last week… but also highest weekly exercises rates… Translation: ditching your iPhone may now count as a wellness ritual.
—> DIGITAL DETOX FOR THE ‘SOBER CURIOUS.’ As health and wellness enthusiasts look for more ways to find balance, many have come to practicing appstinence… downloading apps that block your ability to go on social media… and at Harvard, one student even founded a 5-step digital detox program…
—> More than 1 in 4 Americans said they “want something simpler” in their technology.
—> MEET THE FUTURE: Dumb devices aren’t dumb. They’re intentional. And they’re one of the clearest signals that tech fatigue is real—and that the backlash is going mainstream.
Source: CivicScience
Meanwhile… WIRED: The Best Folding Phones… Best Products: Yes, Flip Phones Are Still Worth It—Here Are Our Top 5 Tested Picks… Tom’s Guide: Best foldable phones of 2025… Business Insider: Is America Headed for an Age of Dumb Phones?… Harvard: Appstinence Helps Others Imagine a Life Without Social Media…
hello, future. it’s me, kev.
…and this is a dispatch from the digital frontier. It’s time to meet the future NOW — with the latest on markets, tech, and freedom. The day is 140. The year is 2025. The planet is Earth.
The planet has complete 38.36 percent its annual orbit around the sun star.
My name is Kevin Cirilli —> LinkedIn. Spotify. Sign-up to receive the future in your inbox here.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel.
Back to the future...
FUTURES
💰 DIMON WARNS: MARKETS ARE TOO COMPLACENT. At JPMorgan’s annual investor day, CEO Jamie Dimon said Wall Street is underestimating the risk of stagflation—aka recession + inflation—thanks to runaway deficits, tariffs, and geopolitical tension.
—> THE QUOTE: “You all think [central banks] can manage all this. I don’t.”
—> THE CALL: Dimon expects S&P 500 earnings forecasts to fall to 0% growth in the next 6 months. If that happens? Stocks go down.
—> WHY IT MATTERS: The biggest bank in the U.S. is flashing warning signs while the market shrugs off risk. That disconnect? Could get expensive.
Source: CNBC
ROBOTICS
🐢 🤖 TURTLE BOTS > TERMINATORS? MIT SAYS YES. While Silicon Valley obsesses over humanoid robots, MIT is quietly building bots that swim like turtles, wriggle like worms, and dissolve in your gut.
—> WHY IT MATTERS: These soft, squishy robots can go where humans—and hard tech—can’t. Think: coral reefs, shipwrecks, or even inside your body. They’re cheaper, safer, and inspired by biology, not science fiction.
—> THE TECH TWIST: Instead of bloated AI models, MIT is using worm-inspired neural networks that run directly on the robots. No cloud. No headset. Just smart, efficient movement in the real world.
—> THE FUTURE: It’s not bipedal robots in aprons. It’s fleets of soft bots helping us explore, monitor, heal, and build—without breaking what’s already here.
Source: WSJ
SPACE
🪐 HOW TO BREATHE ON MARS (WITHOUT DYING INSTANTLY). Right now, if you took your helmet off on Mars, you’d suffocate and your blood would boil. There’s 99% less air than Earth—and 96% of it is CO₂. No oxygen. No chill. Literally.
—> THE FIX: NASA’s Perseverance rover brought a device called MOXIE. It turns Mars air into breathable oxygen. It works. Someday, astronauts could make their own air—and rocket fuel—from scratch.
—> WHY IT MATTERS: Less oxygen to ship = more missions that go further. If Mars ever becomes a human outpost, it'll be because we figured out how to breathe the red planet.
Source: Yahoo News | NASA
QUANTUM // ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
🪙 MIDAS 2.0: SCIENTISTS JUST TURNED LEAD INTO GOLD. FOR A SPLIT-SECOND. Scientists blasted lead atoms so hard they shook three protons loose—creating actual gold atoms. Like, real ones.
—> THE CATCH: They made 89,000 gold atoms per second… but it all added up to less than a trillionth of a gram. So no, you can’t retire.
—> WHY IT MATTERS: This is cosmic-level LEGO building. If we can change one element into another, what else can we make from scratch?
—> THE VIBE: What medieval alchemists dreamed of, quantum physicists just did. The universe is editable.
Source: Glass Almanac | ABC News
MTF EVENTS // SPECIAL CONTENT
MEET THE FUTURE AT SPACE REG BOOTCAMP!!! The Association of Commercial Space Professionals and Q Station have joined forces to offer the Third Annual Space Regulatory Bootcamp in Albuquerque, NM June 10-11th. Spend two intense days learning to navigate the intricacies of the regulations that are slowing your business down.
Leave with practical skills, meaningful connections, and with a regulatory roadmap for your business. From fundraising to government contracting and export controls, our instructors will be hands-on with teaching skills and answering your questions. Tickets and agenda available here: https://acsp.space/abq25bootcamp/ Use our code: ACSPFRIEND to get 10% off your ticket.
ONE MORE THING // HEALTH // BIO TECH // HEALTH TECH
👨👩👧 1 IN 4 AMERICAN KIDS LIVE WITH A PARENT STRUGGLING WITH ADDICTION. That's 18 million children growing up in homes shaped by silence.
—> THE FINDING: A new study in JAMA Pediatrics shows 25% of kids in the U.S. live with a parent or caregiver battling substance use disorder. It’s one of the most widespread, under-discussed realities in the country.
—> WHY IT MATTERS: These kids face higher risks of anxiety, depression, early drug use, and long-term trauma. But most of them stay invisible—because we treat addiction like a moral failing instead of a health issue.
—> THE FUTURE ANGLE: We need to stop whispering. Start building tech, school support, and mental health tools that see these families without shame. The future won’t be built on judgment. It’ll be built on empathy, visibility, and action.
Source: JAMA Pediatrics
With gratitude,
Kev
ABOUT mtf.tv’s meet the future: mtf.tv’s meet the future is a cutting-edge platform focused on addressing key challenges at the intersection of national security, technology, and business. With a mission to embrace freedom to meet the future’s challenges and opportunities, mtf.tv offers forward-thinking media offerings and forums.
Share this post