A psychologist explained the popularity of the "Are you dead?" app among young people in China
- Новости
- Society
- A psychologist explained the popularity of the "Are you dead?" app among young people in China
The popularity of the mobile application "Are you dead?" among young Chinese residents is associated with the growing loneliness in megacities and the fear of going unnoticed in case of trouble. Irina Merkulova, a practicing psychologist and a master of psychology, told Izvestia about this.
We are talking about a service that requires the user to press the confirmation button every two days. If a person does not get in touch, the app automatically sends a notification to a pre-specified trusted contact. At the end of 2025, the app became the most downloaded paid service in China, especially among young office workers and students living alone.
The expert noted that young singles in large Chinese cities were particularly vulnerable, where external social saturation does not mean real support.
"There are a lot of people around, but there is little support inside. There are thousands of contacts in the messenger, but there is not a single person nearby who will sound the alarm if you do not get in touch for two days. A rented apartment, the family is far away, the neighbors are strangers. And the application fits into this void as a temporary patch," said the psychologist.
According to her, the sharp increase in popularity of the service is related not only to the functionality itself, but also to the general state of society.
"This app could have appeared earlier, but it came at a very tired and anxious time. There are more and more people living alone in Chinese megacities, and the fear of being unnoticed has ceased to be personal — it has become collective," Merkulova noted.
Read more in the Izvestia article: "Are you dead?": Why has a simple app become a hit among singles in China
All important news is on the Izvestia channel in the MAX messenger.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
