Ever wanted to have a night free of running into people you know? Well, there’s now an app for that.
Scott Garner, a master’s degree candidate in the interactive telecommunications program at New York University, is the creator of “Hell Is Other People,” an app that would allow users to avoid friends. The app uses FourSquare to monitor friends’ check-ins and determine the best routes and areas to avoid them.
Garner drew on his personal experience in creating the app.
“The key to the idea started when I moved to New York for grad school,” Garner told ABC News. “It was overwhelming for me to be around so many people in the city, and social anxiety was at the top of my mind at the time.”
The HIOP app plots on a map the last 20 places where friends checked in on FourSquare. It then shows ‘safe zones’ where the user can be fairly sure they won’t run into anyone they know — or at least anyone who checks in via FourSquare.
The creator’s idea to create the app was fueled by listening to a lecture from FourSquare’s co-founder, Dennis Crowley. Garner submitted his app for a class project
Garner’s app is still in experimental stages, however. And it isn’t as ridiculous as it seems.
“In some ways, social media and online media are kind of anti-social in that you’re interacting in a virtual space,” he told ABC News. “Some people retreat to Facebook in place of personal interaction. It’s something I’m trying to explore.”
