Rated 4.8 out of 5 on the Apple Store, it would even go so far as to influence policies.
An application is creating a buzz: it claims to predict, with unprecedented precision, the approximate date of your death. But far from wanting to scare you, its goal would rather be to help you live longer by changing your habits. How does it work and why is it so talked about? Explanations.
Your daily choices have a direct impact on your health: what you eat, whether you exercise, or even how much time you spend watching Netflix. These actions often have invisible consequences and that is precisely where this application comes in, analyzing this data and giving you an estimate of your life expectancy. Concretely, it is based on statistics from 1,200 studies bringing together health and lifestyle data from 53 million participants. Food, sport, sleep, stress: everything is taken into account to calculate the famous “deadline”. Namely that the developers promise much greater precision than traditional tools, generally based on demographic averages that are not very personalized. Indeed, cited in a Bloomberg report, developer Brent Franson claims that the app would offer significant details, even going so far as to influence policies.
In addition, the app interface does not lack originality: a countdown displays the time you theoretically have left to live. This presentation, which includes visuals like a “Doomsday card” adorned with the Grim Reaper, may seem sinister. However, the objective is clear: to encourage you to adopt healthier lifestyle habits. For example, the platform might encourage you to sleep better, reduce your alcohol consumption, or practice activities like gratitude, which studies link to increased longevity. In this regard, Harvard research shows that women who regularly express gratitude are 50% less likely to die within the next three years. Something to think about.
This application, called Death Clock, was launched last July and has already attracted more than 125,000 users. Despite a chaotic start due to technical problems, it now displays increased stability. For the most curious, it is available on Android and Apple Store and is completely free.