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An app’s blunt life check adds another layer to the loneliness crisis in China

  • Jan 16
  • 1 min read




In China, the names of things are often either ornately poetic or jarringly direct. A new, wildly popular app among young Chinese people is definitively the latter.


It’s called, simply, “Are You Dead?”


In a vast country whose young people are increasingly on the move, the new, one-button app — which has taken the country by digital storm this month — is essentially exactly what it says it is. 


People who live alone in far-off cities and may be at risk — or just perceived as such by friends or relatives — can push an outsized green circle on their phone screens and send proof of life over the network to a friend or loved one. The cost: 8 yuan (about $1.10).


Read the full story | SAN DIEGO UNION TRIBUNE




 
 
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