The Next Big Idea Does "Mattering" Explain Everything?
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Jan 29, 2026 Jennifer Wallace, author and journalist who wrote Mattering, explores why the need to feel valued shapes our lives. She explains how mattering differs from belonging and status. The conversation covers how work, AI, politics, and small everyday acts affect whether people feel significant. Practical S-A-I-D tools, rituals, and examples like community breakfasts show ways to create spaces where people truly matter.
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Mattering As A Meta-Need
- Mattering is a meta-need that includes belonging, agency, mastery, and purpose.
- Jennifer B. Wallace argues it explains loneliness, anxiety, and disengagement in modern life.
Primal Roots Of Not Mattering
- Feeling like you don't matter triggers primal survival responses and social pain.
- That pain can drive withdrawal, substance use, or violent attempts to assert significance.
Disengagement As A Coping Strategy
- Workplace disengagement is a coping response to feeling replaceable and invisible.
- Mattering at work matters for civic engagement, parenting, and public health.
