Don't say who cares, say WhoShares :)

You probably have read or heard about how social media apps these days damage the social part of our daily lives, since there is a ton of articles and videos about it. I won't repeat all those issues here. In these platforms, who supposedly bring people together, diversities and separations became sharper, connections and relations became meaningless. People became deceitful. I see this outcome as a failed experiment of humanity. Even though globalization and digitalization came together, these concepts could not create a common sense, an ideal or a concern.

If you look around the world, you will find people using them for disinformation, to look like a different person then you actually are and to say things that even you don't believe to make money. Consequently, if you think about this situation, you will find people suggesting "don't do this" or "don't spend your day in these apps". But if you command "don't do this", there emerges another question. What should i do then?

Should i spend my life without using social media apps. This is almost impossible. As a matter of fact, i think moving away from the internet as a whole would be irrational or not productive in this day and age. The key is us being able to use the internet and the products it offers wisely. We need to be able to change our usual habits that we usually follow, because they are resulting in harmful outcomes over and over. We need to be able to do new things. For this, we need 2 things: A new app and a reason to use this app. I will try to give you both :) If you don't want to read the whole post, let me put the links here to download my mobile app called WhoShares. And let me start with the reasons.

To download the Android app:

To download the IOS app:

Where do we make mistakes?

Before talking about the app, i want to ask what are we doing wrong these days first. We are not using the internet age efficiently. I have thought about this issue in different posts here in my blog. For example, i have thought about the inconclusive and nonsensical prohibitions or so called regulations on social media in a post named To bill or not to bill. I have written about these social media apps occupying too much or inappropriate space in our daily lives in the post named Clubhouse... Are we going to get better doctor?. Coincidentally, when Facebook and related apps went down for like a whole day couple of months after that post, i have written Let's Face it. I thought about the possible side effects of the widely popular subject, metaverse, in the post named Metaverse.. Which pill will you take?. And lastly i have a post named Algorithms which talks about the concept of algorithms that runs behind all these apps like a secret agent..

Now, after all these blog posts, i may not have a sociology degree, but i think i can say the these social mediums became toxic environments. I also think that in psychology, there is a name for the inner conflicts that people are having due to trying to look like a person they are not. No one can say that it is a normal consequence that people are feeling more secluded and lonely and separated while internet is supposedly bringing everyone together.

Furthermore, it doesn't make sense to see professional disinformation is being produced even though all the information is available to everyone in the digital world. People can deny what they said yesterday with ease and that doesn't make sense either. Yesterday's actions are forgotten and that is ridiculous too. It is inexplicable to see people can't talk to each other or pretty much ignorant about each other. When i say ignorant, i don't mean that they don't know what's happening. I mean they are unaware of what other thinks, what they go through or what they say. All of us are connected but few of us are bound.

These sort of question naturally create the concept of anti-social app. Here, it is not asocial we use this word as in moving away from people and social media apps. It is rather about stepping out of the boundaries and habits set by the deceptive social form. I find this mentality necessary and meaningful. In fact, there has been an app became popular with this concept. You can checkout the app called BeReal here. So here is the question that we should ask: What should or should not be the properties of an anti-social app? I have asked this question way before BeReal in the year 2016 and turned my answer into an app already :)

What does WhoShares provide?

Let's talk about my proposal. I have tried to give you reasons to use a new app and mentioned a couple of them. There will be more in a minute. Let me briefly explain you what my app is trying to do. I don't want to advertise too long here, since it would be easier for you to download and try it out yourself :)

So the app is called WhoShares. I have developed it in the year 2016. It works on Android and IOS devices. You can record and save videos on a map and find previously recorded videos on the map. As you can see, it is a very basic app. In fact, it is so simple and has only 3 main functions. Record a video, watch videos and like or dislike them. There are no adding friends here, no comments under the videos. You can't upload videos from outside the app. There is no video editing or filters. No intrusive notifications. The content is not daily or temporary like stories, it is there to stay. There are only the real content that you record where you are at a certain time.

And that's it. I can tell you about my app, which i have spent around 1.5 years development time, in just 1 paragraph :) Actually, this is where the real meaning of the app emerges. For example, take a look at the map below. This is Turkey and it looks like this right?

Now take a look at the same map from the app. Istanbul looks dense :)

All the markers you see here is an archive, a memory, a piece of information or a human at some point in time. And this is actually what we should interact with. The unedited reality which is free of materialistic or superficial concerns. Because today's social apps mostly focus on people, followers, influencers and lives behind filters. Therefore people are envying these lives and either losing their own unique talents and values or they start thinking the lives they see is the right way to live or the only way to live. I can say that my app is trying to promote the exact opposite. But it doesn't just tell you what "not to do", it rather hints you "what to do".

There is no commenting function in the app. Because the psychology of commenting leads to bullying and bot accounts. We have tested and verified it as humanity. I think it is time to value the content instead of the people's keyboardabilities. Yes i have made this word up :) There are more than 30 categories carefully selected in the app. You can label your videos or search for the videos on the map with them. Thus, you can see only the categories you would like to see. Here are a couple of them: Memory, Celebration, Nature, Politics, Skill, Challenge, Ads, Food, Culture, Art, Informative...

There is also a world tour function. It basically jumps from video to video around the world. Since there are not too much videos in the app right now, the videos in the tour is kind of limited. This functionality will be fun in the future :) The other side of the world is not far away anymore. Oh by the way, one of the most important properties of the app is that there are no algorithms behind to decide what you see or don't see. This is what real globalization means. This is what sharing actually means. The thing we do in the social media apps is not sharing, it is presenting. It is not participating, it is just following. But the videos in this app are small time machines. They are histories of the future. They are as real as it gets.

Back in the days, i have written my views about the concept of once, in the post named The concept of ONCE. One key function of the app is being able to pass on the once in a lifetime events to the people of the future. In other words, the videos you record today will be more valuable over time. Contrary to the idea of the temporary stories, which are wildly popular these days, these videos are here to not let you forget things. They are there to keep your memory fresh in this world with ever-changing agendas. They are here to reach out more people. They will let you set sail into more real experiences. They will let you find the answers of who did what and where and why questions. Because there are histories took place there before you.

Long story short, the app that i have spent years of development and written a whole blog post about it, have basically 3 main (necessary and sufficient) functionalities and i can tell you what to do instead of just pointing out what not to do. Share a video, watch a video, like or dislike it. Do we need more than this?

Of course you can update the video information. You can list and delete your videos. If you don't have time to upload your video, you can save it to share later. You can see the list of the videos you liked. If the user who uploaded the video permits, you can see the email address of the user too. All these are designed for us to do things that we almost never do these days. It is based on providing the abilities that other apps, who are tested and caused damage to society, do not provide and avoiding what they promote. So yeah, the bottom line is, this app is the counter idea of these social media giants. The best thing is, if you ask me, you record today and tomorrow (tomorrows) will be more meaningful.

You can't change the apps you use, you can change the apps you choose

There we have another relatively long blog post. Let me put the links here too. You can use these links to download it from Android or IOS. I don't know another app that appeals to all age groups, all beliefs and all nations in the world :) People say that an app must be attractive and visible everywhere on ads and has to have fancy interfaces to be able to grow in society. I can't give you these. But i can assure you, this app is more of a necessity rather than a mere habit. Would you believe if i say that i have found a medicine for disinformation, deceit, division and forgetfulness? I hope you do. See you at the next post :)