As the release of the South Korean drama “S Line” draws to a close, I thought I’d share some insights on what could very well be a glimpse into the not-so-distant future of human relationships.

In S Line, a girl born with the ability to see red lines that connect lovers discovers that others can see these “S Lines” too—if they wear special glasses.

Watch the trailer with English subtitles here:

The K-Drama begins with depicting the struggles that come with being the only person to see S Lines.

The main character is a shut-in, and wears sunglasses at all times to limit her exposure to the lurid red strings.

However, what is later portrayed is the undeniable human fascination with the relationships of others.

Combine this with a couple’s desire to show off their relationship status and a greater adoption of smart glasses, and you get a next-generation social app.

Humans have been socially signaling and putting their relationships on display since the dawn of time. In the physical world this takes several forms: matching clothes, jewelry, even tattoos. With the advent of social media, this practice didn’t end—it evolved.

The Facebook relationship status. The name, initials, or @ in bio.

S Lines are simply the next step in this evolution, combining geospatial technology with extended reality (XR).

It’s Life360 or the Snap Map, but for smart glasses.

The S Line has several potential use cases beyond a simple social signal. With S Lines, you can:

• Locate your friends at events or meetups

• Avoid awkward encounters by clearly displaying your relationship status

• Establish connections with friends of friends

• Find your mom when you get lost at the store

S Line is a thriller K-Drama, and it definitely shows some of the sad, scary, and twisted things people do when given access to such intimate information.

• Adding privacy: Allow users to customize the visibility of each S Line, with options ranging from only the person at the other end of the Line being able to see it, to everyone with a pair of glasses

• Too much red: Depending on their relationship category (ex. siblings, friends, or lovers) S Lines could be different colors

• Tell us more: In addition to different colors, I’d add a profile picture and distance indicator next to S Lines to end the ‘on my way’ / ‘how far are you?’ epidemic once and for all

• Relationships, gamified: An S Line can be dull, bright, or sparkling based on the “affinity” between users, calculated by the frequency of activities involving both users (ex. messaging, voice calls, gaming)

I would not be surprised to see an app similar to S Line release on smart glasses in the coming years. An “S Line” feature may even become ubiquitous to social media apps in XR, as short videos have to social media apps on mobile or desktop.

Of course, the impact of smart glasses won’t stop there. Features like real-time AI translations are sure to change human relationships in the future.

What are your thoughts on the S Line as a real-world extension of social media?

If you were to develop an S Line app, what features would you add? Let me know in the comments.

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