Are You Dead?
Every forty-eight hours, a notification appears on the phone screen.
A simple question.
“Are you dead?”
If the user does not respond, the application alerts a list of nominated contacts to check on them.
The app, now known as Demumu (after controversy surrounding its original name - Are You Dead?) was initially designed for young people who live alone. A digital welfare check. No need to talk with friends, family or community - just use the app.
The timing is not accidental. Across the world, more people are living alone than at any point in modern history. And whilst the application first gained attention in China, it has exploded in popularity and has reached the top ten downloaded applications in Singapore and Australia.
The idea itself reflects something much broader that is of great concern to me. A shift in how we think about care and each other. Once again, technology is stepping in to replace something that is part of being human.
How Did This Happen?
The answer is not difficult to see.
Across the world, more people are living alone than ever before. Cities are increasingly full of individuals whose closest family members live hundreds, sometimes thousands of kilometres away. Our communities are being removed, replaced with more time on screens. Neighbours may share walls, but rarely conversations. Statistics vary, but researchers estimate that in the US and Australia less than 50% of people know their neighbours.
In this environment, technology is naturally stepping in to fill the gaps.
A phone notification replaces the casual check-in that once came from a neighbour.
An automated alert stands in for the friend who might once have knocked on the door.
At one level, the idea is understandable. Many people genuinely worry about loved ones who live alone. An app that checks whether someone is still alive can feel reassuring, and this could indeed be a useful tool where someone is very unwell and alone for example.
But beneath the practicality lies a deeper question.
What does it mean when a machine becomes the one asking if we are alive?
Why Is It A Problem?
Technology can support our lives in many ways. But when it quietly begins to replace the social structures that once sustained us, something deeper begins to shift.
Firstly, it reduces our reliance on one another. When wellbeing becomes something monitored by an application, the subtle expectation that we check in on each other can begin to fade and we don’t feel the need to do it anymore.
Second, it risks dulling our empathy. Concern for another person is one of the most fundamental expressions of human care. It is one of the things that AI cannot replicate. When that concern becomes automated, it moves from a relationship to a system.
Third, it reinforces cultures that centre the individual above the collective. The message now becomes: you can manage life alone, supported by technology, without needing others too deeply.
But perhaps most significantly, it begins to reshape something fundamental about what it means to be human.
For most of history, survival depended on others. We lived in groups. We relied on neighbours, family and community networks. Yet again, this app is another example of where convenience is increasingly replacing connection where even the question of whether we are still alive can be outsourced.
Then What Do We Do?
It would be easy to dismiss apps like this as strange or dystopian. But they are not appearing in a vacuum. They are emerging because the social structures that once supported people are weakening.
Technology is simply stepping in where human systems have slowly disappeared.
The challenge, then, is not to reject technology entirely. Digital tools can provide reassurance and support, particularly for those who are vulnerable or isolated. But we should be careful about what we allow them to replace.
The real work lies in paying closer attention to the connections that already exist around us. Some considerations for each of us:
Check in on the people around you. Prioritise these relationships.
Notice where you might be prioritising convenience over real connection and depth.
Allow digital and technological based connections to support you, but not allowing them to become the whole picture.
Accept that meaningful relationships require effort. Friendship, community and care are rarely convenient. This is exactly why they matter. Good things take work, effort and time.
Stay Connected & Support Connections Brewing
Thanks for reading and being part of our community. I do also love hearing from readers, if you have feedback or comments please email me at chris@100coffeemovement.com.
In 2026, Connections Brewing will launch a second type of article known as Magic Moments. These articles will focus on stories of casual connections that turned into life changing positive moments like this one did here;
If you would like to share one of these stories with us, please do reach out! And if you enjoyed this article, please share with your friends, family or community here:
Thanks for reading Connections Brewing. See you next time!
Cheers
Chris