Social isolation presents a vast array of issues that cannot all be addressed more perfectly than by interaction and communication with loved ones. Such issues include demotivation, loneliness, interruption of sleep and social anxiety amongst other things. Our app seeks to maintain connections between individuals to aid them in coping with the effects of social isolation, but also seeks to make the user more resilient and self-reliant.
We have many technological advancements and apps that help us communicate and stay in touch with loved ones across the globe. But rarely do any of these methods allow us to so easily integrate activities into our daily lives based on multiple factors such as schedule, interests, location and friends at the same time. This app can therefore help you organise when you have time to do things and help you explore things to do that you’ll find more relevant to your interests. The factors it takes into account when deciding this will also mean you are exploring potential new bonds with people who share your interests and who are potentially near you, creating new experiences for you. The app does this by giving you a calendar to input your plans, giving you a page to input your interests and by giving you the opportunity to add your friends. It will then list the activities available based on your interests and social circle that are available in your free time. The beauty of this app is that you can also explore activities your friends are doing and schedule in the same activities to do with them at the same time. If a location must be taken into account, in terms of accessibility of an activity, this will also be done to show you activities closest to you.
Journaling has been shown in NASA research to be an effective method of dealing with stress caused by isolation. It is an age old practice that has slowly begun to die out in this day and age, but, if used effectively, it can help users think more critically about personal habits, feelings and thoughts by providing an outlet which can then be reviewed and then acted on by the user independently. Hence we have set aside time everyday for the user to pen some thoughts on our journal page, along with some space related prompts. The aim is to make the user less reliant on friends and family as an outlet (which are not as available to them due to social isolation) and more self-reliant
Social isolation, as imposing as it is, provides a unique opportunity where time to pursue personal interests and focus more on oneself has presented itself. This time, that would otherwise not be accessible due to normal daily schedules, should be enjoyed and utilised effectively to build a healthy mind. Our app collates different methods into one site where you can easily do so. This precious time can also be used to maintain healthy relationships with family and friends and potentially make new ones. Our app also helps by providing easy routes to do the same activities and exploring common interests together and finding new ones as well.
In a world ravaged by the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries have implemented social distancing measures in an attempt to reduce disease spread and ease workload on overworked healthcare systems. With a large percentage of us being cooped up at home, we are experiencing a dearth of sensory stimuli and social connection and have profoundly felt firsthand their effects manifesting in signs such as a lack of motivation and low energy levels. As a result, we were interested in developing potential solutions that could help keep individuals mentally and physically healthy during these trying times by providing them with opportunities to maintain healthy relationships with family and friends, to organise a seemingly aimless day with engaging activities and to be more aware of their feelings and thoughts via journal keeping.
We decided to base our solution on addressing the potential issues of social isolation and sensory deprivation, both of which are areas of extensive research by NASA. We drew on NASA-issued guidelines as well as interviews and articles from astronauts on their experiences dealing with similar situations as inspiration for our application. From our various brainstorming sessions, we identified 2 main areas in which we could reduce the mental and physiological effects of extended periods of social isolation.
The first area that we identified was to address the issue of social disconnection between individuals by building a Virtual Reality world allowing users to interact within the Virtual Reality world. Furthermore, a biosuit consisting of electrical muscle stimulators to mimic touch and sensory feelings.
The second area that we identified focussed on people's tendency to feel lethargic, aimless and depressed during periods of social isolation. To address this, we decided to build an app which could suggest and schedule activities based off user interests, social circle and schedules. We felt this idea was more accessible to the general public and would be more impactful as it fosters communication between individuals while also motivating the user by giving him/her activities to look forward to.
We built our solution to address the potential issues of social isolation and sensory deprivation, both of which have been extensively researched by NASA. We also referenced NASA guidelines as well as interviews from astronauts on their experiences dealing with isolation as inspiration for our application. NASA has conducted extensive research documenting the negative impact of social isolation and sensory deprivation in astronauts. It was reported that sensory deprivation has been linked with deleterious effects on human cognition such as increased activity in the amygdala or a differential activity in the perigenual anterior cingulate cortex. These are characteristic of heightened stress responses and they cause individuals to view their surroundings in a paranoid and negative light. Social isolation has shown to be a stressful event for humans, as we seek socialisation as a means of survival, and it also removes our need to adapt and thrive in varying environments. As a result, individuals are more likely to experience loneliness, anxiety, paranoia, depression and motivation. To combat this, NASA has issued guidelines and recommendations on possible countermeasures employed to reduce the negative impacts of social isolation and sensory deprivation.
By suggesting to users community events based on their interests and social circle, we seek to address the lack of social connection and visual monotony by encouraging them to participate in new, engaging activities together with their social circles. We hope that by scheduling activities for the user, it would give them activities to look forward to and hence provide them with motivation. This also allows users to be engaged in activities of their interest, a strategy mentioned by Dr. Tom Williams on “Houston We Have a Podcast” that astronaut Shannon Lucid used when she was on the Mir Station.
We utilised Figma to design the user interface of our application while DART Flutter on Android Studio IDE were used to create a cross-platform application. We used Github as our project repository.
Click here to view the mockup of how the app will look like once fully developed.
Click here to view a demonstration of the actual app we have developed using Flutter.
Despite possessing some coding knowledge, we were unfamiliar with both Flutter and Figma. However, with the help of YouTube tutorials and some practice, we were able to familiarise ourselves with it thereafter.
Another challenge we faced was to be able to efficiently prioritise events that the user will be interested in when coding the app algorithm. We had to take several factors into account: user's interests, user's time zone, user's friends (analyze what events have they signed up for). After much discussion, we decided to use a weighted system that takes into account the user's interests, user's time zone, user's participating friends to prioritise events that the user will most likely be interested and likely to attend as we felt these were 3 most important considerations for a user.
With a time limit of 48 hours, time was of the essence throughout the competition. We managed to effectively divide and delegate the project between team members, taking advantage of each of our unique strengths. In doing so, we managed to complete the application to our satisfaction within the time limit.
In the future, we hope to be able to build a viable hosting platform such that the suggested events such as watch parties, quiz nights, would all be held on our application, without the need to be directed to other platforms.
Expand the point system to allow for redeeming rewards such as discounts on events that require payments.