Technology’s reach is ubiquitous these days is everywhere – from the way we shop, consume news, make friends, and even date.
But what is technology doing to our core ways of connecting and being at the structural and individual level? Part of the Missing Perspectives team attended Blackbird’s Sunrise 2025 gathering, and some of the most interesting discussions at the conference delved into what tech is doing to us at the cellular level.
Held on Gadigal land in Sydney, part of the Welcome to Country included a talk by Gamilaroi and Mandandanji dancer and artist Nathan Leslie, who told the story of the cheeky and often mischievous kookaburra. A breathwork session hosted by Dave Murphy focused on unlocking our creative selves, and gave me a new view on what’s going on in our brains when you focus on your body and not your phone.
Next, a round-robin discussion on the Collisions Stage hosted by sex tech expert Bryony Cole picked apart what’s going on with our dating culture. In 2025, people are tired of swiping, searching for deeper connections on apps that seem designed to keep us hooked – and alone. As Tay Gwyther, who has co-founded a dating app called Maple that integrates low fi social get togethers as part of the experience mused, no other industry is so ubiquitously loathed and simultaneously used as that of the dating app. Relationship and intimacy coach Susie Kim pointed out some of the fatal flaws that single people may hold, from “lists” that the perfect partner has to meet, to acting out their childhood hurts within their adult dating lives. Newer apps like Maple and Humpday are hoping to displace the dominance of the Tinder, Bumble and Hinge eras by taking the social route, and helping to facilitate IRL connection first, romance second.
One of the more confusing conversations of Day 1 saw chef Mitch Orr, Letterbox’d’s Carl von Randow, and MONA’s curator and chief controversy officer Kirscha Kaechele together with Miffy Rigby musing on what “good taste” even means these days. When profits and numbers are driven by virality, everything looks and sounds the same, and algorithms push us further into the wastelands of the internet, what exactly does it even mean to be original and tasteful? The conversation bounced from dying for art (Kaechele) to a social media account dedicated to Auckland’s roads littered with construction screws (von Randow) but ultimately returned to the power (both good and evil) of Instagram.
And lastly, the news – Centennial World is an Australian start-up focused on delivering news and content to Gen Z their way. Founder and CEO Lauren Meisner took us through the ups and downs of starting, scaling and monetising a content company like no other, which now focuses purely on its TikTok and podcast offerings to considerable success.
Thank you for having us Blackbird – it was an energising, inspiring, and wide-ranging conference. We’ll see you all next year!
