The billboard was clearly advertising something called the “Leaf Blower Exchange.” Flying along at a respectable 4 mph over the speed limit, that part was impossible to miss. Just like that, I had it all pictured: an expo center filled with mostly men passionate about their leaf blowers. I could see them bragging about their specimens of machines, checking out the leaf blowers of others, and trading them like they would baseball cards. Picture lots of flannel shirts and fall facial hair. Based on what I could see so clearly in my mind’s eye, I was thinking, “I did not realize people were so passionate about their leaf blowers.”
This was right about the time I saw the deflating bit about this being a government-sanctioned event. We can’t be sure, but I’m guessing they’re encouraging people to swap their loud leaf blowers for quieter blowers. This they’re doing to reduce the number of neighbor disputes which start arising this time of year. Every neighborhood has that guy (sorry to stereotype!) who loves blowing leaves and whatever else he can with his obnoxiously loud leaf blower as early as possible on fall mornings. This has to be why the government is getting involved. Or because they want to swap out gas-guzzling and emissions-producing blowers for wimpier but more environmentally-friendly blowers. You pick your story.
As you can clearly see, this essay is about AI and the loneliness epidemic we have going on in the United States. I’ve personally never been one to argue with the U.S. Office of Surgeon General, except for when they designated the serving size of ice cream to be the same amount as a serving of black beans—half a cup. Anyway, when The Surgeon General guy said a few years back that loneliness is a public health crisis, it made sad sense. And I’ll take that guy’s declaration EVEN more seriously if you tell me that it’s actually a different government agency who bears responsibility for that particularly egregious serving size decision.
Getting back to the fun subject of loneliness, I want to tell the Backstreet Boys, “If you thought we were lonely back in the 90s, you really should see us NOW! You’d be so proud.” Sure, their song “Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely” was probably about a break-up since that’s mainly what boy bands sing about. But the title at least still fits our purposes.
When I had my own realization that this AI thing is a ginormously big deal, I wrote basically a chatty eBook about it. In all the very interesting things I’ve learned, one statistic from the Harvard Business Review took the cake, served of course with half a cup of ice cream. Thanks, Government. They published a list of ways people are using AI in 2025 compared to how we were using it in 2024. Which of the following would you guess is the number one use case in 2025?
A. Therapy/companionship.
That’s exactly right. The answer is A.
It’s a sad commentary on our times and our society that we’re disconnected and lonely enough to do things like fall in love with AI or spend hours “talking with” a screen for company. Something like eight billion people on the planet, we’ve always got ourselves to be friends with, and we’re turning to large language models for companionship.
It could be that neighbors obnoxiously using their leaf blowers are driving part of the disconnection. But part of the human condition is just to be lonely sometimes. In fact, a research study I just made up indicates that 100% of people will, at some point in their lives, be lonely. But spending hours with AI for therapy/connection is probably not the solution. Here to inspire us all are some non-AI events happening in the real world and bringing people together for some of that good old-fashioned connection.
Exhibit A:
Did you know there are bass fishing championships where people do things like win $1 MILLION for catching the biggest bass fish? A random Instagram page I came across while doing some pickleball research was my introduction, and led me to this actual story about two college buddies winning a big bass fishing contest in 2021. I hope they’re still buddies. I actually have no idea of the rules and whether it’s about the biggest bass, and hopefully I’m wrong because I’ve seen the pictures, and their fishes just don’t look that big to me. Then again, I’m no gifted fisherman or fisherwoman, as we recently established. But the smiles on these guys’ faces have me seriously rethinking that decision.
If, in bass fishing, you don’t have to bait your hooks with worms, this might be my most promising life direction and a new dream I could have. If anyone reading this knows whether bass fishing is the hardest kind of fishing to do, please let us all know so we can all understand why it comes with a $1 million prize. And please let me at least know if worms are involved.
Exhibit B:
There’s an annual World’s Ugliest Dog Contest. Now, I bet you a taco you would never comment on someone else’s dog, “Your dog is so ugly.” I might start though, since it’s apparently a badge of honor. People willingly enter their beloved canines in it, seemingly without even a shred of remorse. This one may actually be a contest promoting dog adoptions from shelters, and dogs don’t have the same gift of comprehension for personal slights as humans do, so there probably are no feelings hurt here.
Hopefully the pups just think they’re at a giant dog park with lots of, erm, interesting looking playmates. The winning dog, Petunia, took home $5,000 which is chump change compared to what you can get catching bass, but infinitely better than a nerf football you catch at, for example, a high school football game. This IS indeed one of my great claims to fame, thank you for noticing. There’s no telling what a dog spends money on, but she apparently gets her mug on root beer cans and got wide news coverage. Even the New York Times found it newsworthy.
Exhibit C:
This one isn’t necessarily fascinating, but it’s on my mind and since I’m the one writing this, I get to share it. We’re talking about pickleball. PLEASE DON’T LEAVE IF YOU’RE NOT A PICKLEBALLER. I know we can be obnoxious about it, but hear me out. Last year, I might’ve qualified for an “obsessed” badge when it came to this game and industry. I paneled at a national pickleball conference, I traveled the country meeting people in the pickleball industry and wrote lots about it, and I even accidentally got my first ever press credentials to go behind-the-scenes at a professional pickleball tournament.
For reasons I won’t share today, my interest in pickleball has been downgraded from seriously enthused to a regular, happy community player. What I’m a fan of is being active, the being outside, and playing with friends and meeting new pals. Shay is such a new friend who just started playing with our group at the local park, and who has introduced us to her pickleball people. About them I know next to nothing.
Pickleball facilitates awesome dude-esque friendships, the kind smart experts say are really beneficial. We women can fall into talking about self-help which I’ve quit, and therapy things. But not on a pickleball court. We talk about shots and laugh over the bad ones. We know first names, are on multiple text threads, and know who typically plays when. That’s all you really need to know, and it was enough to get invited to Shay’s pickleball potluck brunch. She invited her pickleball stranger friends to join her pickleball real friends. You’d better believe I went, because, you know, real life connection.
But I left my leaf blower home. It sounds laughable to the uninitiated, but it is not unusual to see avid pickleballers using the blower they brought from home to remove even specks of leaves which might interfere with their game, you know. I just needed mine to rest up for the big Leaf Blower Exchange. It’s coming right up.
Before we go, I’ve got to know:
Do you know any woman who is passionate about her leaf blower?
What’s a random hobby or pursuit you’ve heard of people doing, or do yourself for human connection and fun?
Isn’t life cool, and aren’t people interesting? See you in the next one…
