Anonymity apps like Yik Yak, Whisper, and After School are fun, but they're also a breeding ground for bullying and hate speech.
Up is a new app that seeks to spread anonymous messages of kindness. Once you sign in, you can send uplifting notes to your phone contacts, which they receive in a text.
"It's such an easy thing to do, and it could have a real impact on that person," Up's founder Jeremy Parker tells Tech Insider. "I hope people wake up, use Up, and make kindness an active part of their daily routine."
I decided to try it out for a week and send kind messages to friends and family every day for a week. Here's what happened.
First, I downloaded Up from the iTunes App Store. Once I registered with my phone number, it asked me to get started.
I sent kind messages to three different people every evening. The first was to my mother, who is a middle school teacher.
When I pressed 'send,' the app gave me a warm, self-affirming message: 'You just made someone's day.'
About 15 minutes later, my mom called me. "I don't understand your message," she said. "What is this?"
The message she received from Up referred to her as "mom" (since that's how she's listed in my phone contacts), so she immediately knew I sent the message.
Even after I explained about the app, I could tell she was still skeptical why I would thank her for giving me life and raising me for 18 years. "That's nice," she said.
Next, I sent a message to my best friend, Michelle.
This is the text she received on the other end:
Next, I sent one to my grandmother (who is very technologically savvy):
Then another to my friend from college, Erin:
By the end of the week, sending cute texts was a part of my daily routine. Kind messages, like this one to my friend Jill, was like a daily meditation — an expression of gratitude.
It was honestly a little addictive.
Part of me did want to hear their reaction in real-time though. So I sent an anonymous message to fellow TI reporter Danielle Muoio during work.
Danielle sits across the newsroom from me, and she was immediately flustered when she received the message. "How did they get my number?" she said.
She confided in her editor, who chimed in, "That's creepy as s***!"
But for the rest of the messages, I didn't hear their reactions. When I pressed 'send' and they fluttered away to their recipient, it felt awesome to (hopefully) make their day. Even Danielle and my mom were caught off-guard by the messages, it reminded me of how many spectacular human beings I have in my life — and that I need to let them know much they mean to me more often.
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