<p>A new smartphone app that can inform you where your friends are and suggest best possible routes to avoid them has been developed by a US student.<br /><br /></p>.<p>The app named "Hell Is Other People" utilises FourSquare - a location-based social networking website for mobile devices - to track check-ins made by friends to determine the best routes and areas to avoid them.<br /><br />The experimental anti-social media app was created by Scott Garner, a graduate student at New York University, 'ABC News' reported. The Web app is simple to use. First, a person connects his or her FourSquare account through "Hell is Other People."<br /><br />Then, the Web app conjures up an avoidance map. The map contains orange and green points. Orange points indicate check-ins by other users, and green points represent "optimally distanced safe zones," as suggested by the app.<br /><br />James George, NYU adjunct faculty member, said his final assignment required students to create a system that enabled individuals to behave a certain way. "I thought it was an amazing interpretation of that idea," George said.<br /><br />"I think Scott was resistant to doing group projects throughout the class. He was like 'No, I do not want to rely on other people. He was able to turn that personal anxiety and channel it into the concept of that piece," he said.<br /><br />The thought of an "anti-social media" app may seem ironic, but Garner said the initiative isn't as ridiculous as it seems, the report said.<br /><br />"In some ways, social media and on-line media are kind of anti-social in that you are interacting in a virtual space. Some people retreat to Facebook in place of personal interaction. It's something I am trying to explore," he said.</p>
<p>A new smartphone app that can inform you where your friends are and suggest best possible routes to avoid them has been developed by a US student.<br /><br /></p>.<p>The app named "Hell Is Other People" utilises FourSquare - a location-based social networking website for mobile devices - to track check-ins made by friends to determine the best routes and areas to avoid them.<br /><br />The experimental anti-social media app was created by Scott Garner, a graduate student at New York University, 'ABC News' reported. The Web app is simple to use. First, a person connects his or her FourSquare account through "Hell is Other People."<br /><br />Then, the Web app conjures up an avoidance map. The map contains orange and green points. Orange points indicate check-ins by other users, and green points represent "optimally distanced safe zones," as suggested by the app.<br /><br />James George, NYU adjunct faculty member, said his final assignment required students to create a system that enabled individuals to behave a certain way. "I thought it was an amazing interpretation of that idea," George said.<br /><br />"I think Scott was resistant to doing group projects throughout the class. He was like 'No, I do not want to rely on other people. He was able to turn that personal anxiety and channel it into the concept of that piece," he said.<br /><br />The thought of an "anti-social media" app may seem ironic, but Garner said the initiative isn't as ridiculous as it seems, the report said.<br /><br />"In some ways, social media and on-line media are kind of anti-social in that you are interacting in a virtual space. Some people retreat to Facebook in place of personal interaction. It's something I am trying to explore," he said.</p>