The Brief
Track B. Well-Being: Adapting to the New Normal: COVID-19 has reduced human social interactions, leading to increased stress, anxiety, depression, PTSD, and grief. How can we rebuild our social lives safely? How do we stay connected while following health guidelines? What measures can be taken to safeguard emotional and mental health? How do we balance emotional, mental, and physical well-being?
Our Story
The MIT COVID-19 Challenge was a completely virtual hackathon. In 48 Hours, we were required to deliver a pitch for our chosen brief. This was a global challenge and I joined with 2 friends so we paired up with 2 Americans to form a team of 5.
Last year one of our team members, Emily, went on 78 first dates after matching with 100s of people online. But during this pandemic, dating — as we know it— was no longer an option for her. And she felt like her life was on pause.
What can we do if going on a date jeopardises the health of others?
As we know, COVID-19 is having an extreme impact on many parts of our lives. On the one hand, it threatens many existing businesses and on the other, it's a catalyst for us to reimagine and redesign for a world post covid-19.
Our company is positioned to capture users after they've matched on a dating app and would traditionally meet up.
At this stage, we provide them with the option to have an amazing dating experience that's virtual. (Imagine a world where a virtual date could be better than a physical one. That's what we're building)
Secondly, we work to ensure the safety of our users for those physical dates. This would allow people the peace of mind to meet as well as support great local businesses.
Our first feature encourages authentic conversations with meaningful prompts, scenarios and games to reduce awkwardness and make it easier to be more intimate.
Secondly, we’re making virtual experiences the next best thing. Emily had a date send over food and wine for a video call, and it was awesome. We believe there’s a real potential in revamping and providing a best-in-class virtual dating experience. For our pilot, we’ll partner with local businesses to come up with activity kits such as DIY or cooking activities that people can use to date from home. Simply choose an experience, pay and be prepared for an awesome date – delivered to your door.
Thirdly, if people want to meet, we’ll leverage our partners to allow them to do so, safely. We started the conversation with CrowdConnected to make use of their analytics and create packages at local businesses during low traffic times. We’ve also secured a 6 month partnership with Sendbird to support our chat functions.