Hate small talk? Pretend to be on a call when you encounter colleagues at the grocery store? Want to dodge human interaction, but still need to go out in public? Finally, there's an app for that.
The existentially named ‘Hell Is Other People’ web app enables those of us averse to awkward social encounters – or just needing some alone time – to avoid running into friends who've checked into social media application Foursquare.
The 'experiment in anti-social media' calculates what developer Scott Garner refers to as ‘optimally distanced safe zones’, where a user is unlikely to encounter any associates, based on where their friends have been checking in recently.
Hell is Other People works by connecting to your Foursquare account and bringing up a personalized, customized version of the Google Maps interface.
The map highlights friends’ check-ins in with orange dots, and your ‘safe zones’ with green dots. Keep to the green zones, and you have a high chance of going a whole day without having to interact with anyone you actually know.
The major flaw with the application is that it requires your friends to check-in regularly in order to deliver accurate calculations. We'd like to see the app expanded to include locations collected by other social media sites, such as Facebook or Instagram.
The art of incognito
Garner, who says he suffers from social anxiety, created the app as part satire, part ‘commentary’, as a result of both his condition and a strong dislike of social media.
The reasoning behind the project is interesting. Creating an app that helps you avoid people and is an extension of your disdain for social media, that only works by relying on other people using social media themselves, is probably contradictory – or even straight out hypocritical.
Anyone who is really that dedicated to solitude may have better luck just switching off the phone and staying at home.
But if you’re eager to go about your business without the threat of unwanted conversation, you can try out the app at the Hell Is Other People project website.
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