Building a quieter social app on purpose — what we refuse to optimize for
I'm with Third Eye Cyborg building Ascended Social — a spiritual / contemplative community app on the web.
Most social products win by keeping you scrolling. We're trying the opposite: intention-led posts (Sacred Feed), quieter discovery, privacy controls, and reflection prompts that don't pretend to be therapy.
What we won't optimize for: addiction metrics, ragebait ranking, or "never leave" session length. What we will: can someone arrive, share something real, and leave without feeling drained?
We're early. Free Seeker has some expected locks; compose in Human mode for the intention-led feed. First share takes a minute (mood + intention). That's on purpose, not a bug we forgot.
Honest UX asks from builders and seekers:
- Where does onboarding still feel like regular social media?
- Does the feed feel calmer than usual social, or still noisy?
- What would you never post here?
Quick look (pick one or two):
- Alternatives that unite: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DdRoGptlBBl/
- Mood-based search: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DdZWdwqiPtO/
If you want to poke holes in the UX, free Seeker is live at https://ascended.social — Mac / Linux / iOS are waitlist-interest only for now (start on web). Happy to answer in-thread. No hard sell. No DMs required.
Ascended is not clinical mental health care and is not a substitute for licensed care.
Have early users behaved differently because of the intentional friction—more thoughtful posts, shorter sessions, or stronger return behavior—or is that still unvalidated?
Nice, this makes a lot of sense. What's been the most surprising part of it so far?