I think a problem many young people can relate to, including myself, is the dilemma of wanting to make/save money while also having to take time to focus on developing themselves as a future professional, especially during their college years and even more so if they are trying to establish independence early on or just simply don’t have the luxury of choosing not to work. In other words, I see many college students forgoing any type of employment during their early college years in order to dedicate all their time and energy in school and everything that comes with that is supposed to prepare you for your future career such as extracurricular activities, looking for later opportunities that center around their area of study, landing the right internship, working on a potential business idea, etc. However, as mentioned many young people do not have the luxury of only focusing on the latter as much as they’d like to. We incur expenses even while passing up on leisure activities in the process of molding ourselves for the future. 

I remember when I was first introduced to Craigslist, watching family members use it to buy and sell random household items when I was younger. Nowadays though, you mention Craigslist and it usually comes with a negative connotation, being known for scams and other sketchy purposes. This is unfortunate since in my experience, Craigslist has helped me obtain a number of great opportunities in the past ranging from many job opportunities including my last one and helping me find the elusive, affordable apartment in a neighborhood I love. The main reason why Craigslist was so attractive to me because it was simple and intuitive; you enter a text-based website and search whatever you’re looking for and you hope to find someone or something who has that. But lack of regulation has stifled the company’s growth. Why won’t they fix this?

It could be because Craigslist is currently valued at $3 billion regardless of these issues, so there really isn’t much of a reason for managers or Craig to take action. But if a platform existed where someone who was strapped for cash at the moment can pop into a cleaner, more streamlined app/website and search for local opportunities to make quick cash without the commitment of an hourly or weekly schedule, this can give young people the chance to be able to get by without losing sight on what they are really working towards for the greater part of their week. Of course, safety measures must be taken at all times and much more concept development is needed to determine how this can be made possible to ensure a better user experience.