New Delhi, Jan 22 (IANS) Amid falling marriages and birth rates, and many living an isolated life in China, a new app is seeking to fight loneliness, according to a media report.
The Are You Dead? app developed by a company called Moonscape Technologies enables individuals living alone or single to be in touch with a designated emergency contact, the Guardian reported.
The company, which describes it as “a lightweight safety tool crafted for solo dwellers”, allows users to check in once a day by clicking a large green button. If the user misses two consecutive days of check-ins, the app will send an automated alert to a designated emergency contact.
The app comes as more people in their 20s and 30s are living alone in China. The report noted that in 2024, a record low of 6.1 million couples got married in the country, while 2.6 million couples filed for divorce.
In addition, the country is witnessing a significant decline in birthrate, creating demographic challenges as the population shrinks each year. By 2030, there could be as many as 200 million single-person households, according to Chinese state media.
In such a scenario, the Are You Dead? app has tapped into people’s anxiety of dying alone, with no one even to bury them.
“This app makes people feel alive. It is an interesting phenomenon that reflects and combats the loneliness of young people today,” the report quoted a user on RedNote, a social media platform that is predominantly used by women, as saying.
According to Ian Lü, one of the co-founders of Moonscape Technologies, the idea for Are You Dead? came to him while browsing on Chinese social media.
“In recent years, there has been wide and heated discussion about a hypothetical ‘are you dead’ app,” Lü said. “For example, something with features like: if you don’t check in for 48 hours, someone will come and collect your body.”
The report also cited China’s notorious “996” work culture — meaning workers toil from 9 am to 9 pm, six days a week — as a major factor for stress and social isolation.
The new app, thus, is becoming a tool to combat feelings of isolation, which also builds up anxiety, stress, and a sense of helplessness, the report said, with mental health experts also vouching for the app, “that will help connect to other people”.
“This new ‘living alone’ group is a global phenomenon. I hope the whole world can pay attention to the safety issues of people living alone,” Lü said.
–IANS
rvt/
