Setting a Digital Boundary is The New (and Necessary) Way

The following is an explanation and exploration of the second part of Gated's Manifesto.

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Communication systems today allow anyone to send you anything they want.  And you are left with the burden of sorting through the mess to find what is relevant to you.

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With the advent of AI, the volume of messages sent is already increasing exponentially.  And even the smartest of filters can only be applied after the messages have begun to fill up your inbox, your DMs, your notifications bar.  

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At Gated, we have studied communications deeply and found that filtering is not a winnable game. Here’s why: 

• Data-driven filtering (i.e. AI spam filters) will always struggle to balance aggressiveness (with a risk of missing valuable messages) and caution (with the risk of allowing messages that aren’t relevant)
• Context is subjective. What might be a valuable message can be unwanted at another time.  What message resonates with one CEO may be entirely irrelevant for another.  
• Filtering requires real-time response, or else it feels untrustworthy.  Any failures or technical shortcomings can lead to user frustration error in the process. 

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Instead of continuing to tackle an increasing challenge in an outdated way, we’ve got a different take on things: 

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We believe you should have a say in what reaches you in the first place.   

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Everyone and anyone would benefit from technology that acts as a digital boundary – visible to the people trying to reach you and designed to provide guidance on how to reach you most effectively.  

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This might look like: 

• Clearly presented personal preferences on what you want to hear about
• Technology functions within your control that help refine the messages people can send
• Functionality that helps qualify or authenticate the messages you receive

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Most importantly, setting a digital boundary and proactively influencing how people communicate with you means you’ll be less swamped by irrelevant communication – and more available for the conversations you truly want to have. 

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Interested to learn more?  Check out the rest of our manifesto - and follow our journey on LinkedIn.