[LUM#3] Solidarity 2.0
What if your phone could help you rediscover close, supportive relationships with those around you? That’s the ambitious goal of the creators of the EyesHelp community app.
At first glance, nothing seemed to point Marc Nguyen and Olivier Mazières toward a career in new technologies. The two friends are dentists and former students of the Montpellier School of Dentistry. But one day, Olivier’s father came face-to-face with burglars in his home, and they fled. He wanted to warn everyone in his neighborhood about the looming threat, but didn’t know how to go about it…
“We live in an ultra-connected world; we have ‘friends’ all over the planet, but we don’t know how to reach our neighbors when we need help,” laments Marc Nguyen. The two friends then had an idea: to create a community app to connect us with those around us and make our daily lives safer. That’s how EyesHelp was born. Are you feeling unwell in a remote location? Have you witnessed an accident? Have you lost your cat in the neighborhood? EyesHelp lets you alert people nearby.
Civility and Kindness
To“breathe new life into community relationships,” Marc Nguyen is counting on“everyone’s civic-mindedness and kindness.” How does it work? The app pinpoints the location of the person issuing an alert and sends a message to the phones of nearby “helpers,” who can then offer assistance or call emergency services if necessary. With nearly 2,000 helpers signed up in just a few months, the app seems to have found an audience.
The next goal for Marc Nguyen and his colleagues at Gamox is to propose a partnership with local governments.“EyesHelp is a good way for municipalities to stay in touch with their residents—for example, to notify them of roadwork or incidents on public roads.” It’s also useful for emergency services, which could receive alerts sent through the app and thus respond more quickly in the event of an incident.
“Beyond the concept of emergencies, we want to reconnect people with one another and encourage everyone to be a little more mindful of those around them.” In other words, to look up from our phones a little more often?“Exactly! In fact, if the app truly achieves its goal, then we won’t need it anymore.”
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