Are you dead? The name of China’s bleak-sounding viral app. An app that has taken the markets by storm, being one of the most downloaded paid apps in the country, and which started off as a free app to now costing only 8 yuan ($1.15; £0.85). The app requires users to “check in” by pressing a button within two consecutive days; when they fail to do so, the app sends a message to an emergency contact nominated by the user.
The intensifying number of individuals living alone and the decline of community are largely at play here, especially with China having the lowest fertility rate of the world’s most populous countries, paired with the increasing divorce rates and marriage on the decline, leads to a rise of one-person households. One of the app’s founders Guo Mengchu, shared how they were crying out for care and security for those who live alone and wanted to be cared for and loved. Don’t we all?
The bigger question that haunts me is why individuals in China and soon other countries, with its plans of expansion, feels so isolated to the point that an app is needed to reach out to your loved ones on behalf of oneself. The primal human fear of those living alone and might die unnoticed, without anyone to call for help or to even collect the body, the BBC, Guardian and the Financial Times reported on how young working professionals living away from their family in China’s “first-tier” cities, feels that there’s a sense of loneliness due to a lack of communication.
Some have argued that the Chinese app “Are You Dead?” are a sign of expressing the lingering pessimism within China’s population of other trends such as bai lan, or “let it rot”, signaling a frustrated and disappointed younger generation, one that feels let down by past generations. With some pushing for a more optimistic name change such as “Are you Alive?” or “How are you?”, instead, Are you Dead? summarises the countries’ apathic and isolated population, and should be a reminder to check up on your friends, family and loved one, rather than relying on an app.
