"Are You Dead?"

[PeterRS]

I supppose somewhere it would inevitably happen. Recently the most downloaded paid-for app on China's WeChat site (the equivalent of WhatsApp) focuses on death. "Are You Dead?" developed by Moonllght Technologies has gone viral. It is aimed at taking away some of people's fears about death. In particular lonely deaths of people who have few friends and whose families are very far away.

No longer do most Chinese live in their family homes as they have for generations. With marriage and birthrates falling, more and more Chinese have gravitated to the mega-cities. Many are confused by the big cities. They find socialising difficult and do not marry for one reason or another. This trend, too, is common in other north Asian countries like Japan and South Korea where women especially want to express their own independence and feel they do not need a male partner to achieve that. Others are just so busy working to try and make ends meet there is no time for socialising. By 2030 it is estimated there could be as many as 200 million single-person households.

Equally there are some people who just do not wish to be sociable, even to the extent of living alone rather than sharing a flat. Loneliness is increasingly becoming a major probem. Some of these tend to spend most of their time indoors. When the plight of one mid-40s woman who died alone in her flat went on social media, concern was experessed not only about finding the body and then burying it in accordance with Chinese custom, but the effect this might have on the resale value of the flat. So "Are You Dead?" aims to solve this problem. 

Basically the app is incredibly simple. Each morning users receive a large green silent button on their phone. All the user has to do is press it. If one goes unpressed for two consecutive days, the app automatically sends an alert to a designated emergency contact. An interesting phenomenon is that according to some users, the app makes people feel more alive! Go figure!

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/20/chinese-app-are-you-dead-exposed-deepest-darkest-fears

[floridarob]

From the topic headline, I thought this was an @Olddaddy post for sure.

That app does sound like a good idea, when was the last time you talked or texted someone you know pretty well, weeks go by and it seems like only a couple of days for me.