In China, a smartphone application that checks whether a single-person household survives is gaining explosive popularity. The proportion of single-person households in China has exceeded 25% of all households.
China’s state-run Global Times app was ranked first in the paid app list for Apple’s App Store in China on the 10th, the third day after it was released on the 8th. The app price is 8 yuan, but the interface is simple. There is a “check-in” button in the center of the screen and the phrase “If you don’t check in for two days, you’ll send a notification to the emergency contact the next day” appears below. Lumo, one of the app developers, said in an interview with the Guangzhou Ilbo, “Three developers born in the 1990s, who have their jobs, completed the development in a month through remote collaboration.”
Chinese Internet expert Liu Ding-ding told the Global Times, “The danger facing single-person households is that it is difficult to recognize sudden diseases or accidents around them,” adding, “This app deals with social needs that are really needed in the era of social networks and health and safety issues for single-person households.” According to China’s demographics, the proportion of single-person households surged from 12% in 2010 to 25% in 2020 and is expected to exceed 30% in 2030.
Controversy over the name of the app is also heating up. Users gave positive feedback, saying that the app itself is useful not only for the elderly but also for the younger generation, but some criticized that the name that directly refers to “death” does not fit the Chinese culture’s tendency to refrain from mentioning it. Some said that they would download it if they changed it to “are you alive?”
Internet expert Liu Ding-ding said, “The app’s name is controversial, but it meets the social demand of single-person household safety issues,” predicting that it will include monitoring physical health indicators such as heart rate measurement in the future.
JENNIFER KIM
US ASIA JOURNAL
