Dreamstime_Elnur_214533480
Dreamstime Elnur 214533480 641c7b9090dfd

Smartphone App Discourages “Grim Reaper” and Chatty Co-workers

March 31, 2023
A smartphone app hopes to delay the Grim Reaper’s “success” via repeated, non-stop text-message interruptions.

This article is part of the our April 1st series.

You can also download the PDF eBook of this series.

Let’s face it: The “Grim Reaper”—aka “death”—comes to us all, and many technical, medical, dietary, and other approaches are used in attempts to delay the inevitable. Some of these work in certain situations, but most of these strategies rely on costly, complex, time-consuming medical procedures or personal-care and wellness “discipline.”

Now, a startup has developed a scheme that attempts to literally repel such a visit by the Grim Reaper (GR). They have developed a smartphone app called “Text Me/Go Away,” which leverages the well-known social phenomena. It’s now perceived as normal for someone to check their phone within a few seconds when a text message arrives, and even feel compelled to answer it immediately.

Dummy Texts

Here’s how it works. When the smartphone user feels the presence of impending demise as manifest by the sense of a life-ending visit from the GR, he or she invokes the app that was previously downloaded. The app then sends a text to the phone, which the user checks immediately and says something like “sorry, can you wait a second, I have to answer this,” then types and sends out a “dummy” placeholder answer.

Immediately upon sending that dummy response, the app sends yet another text message to the phone, and the cycle repeats. As the cycle continues and after some number “message received/I have to answer this one” cycles, the GR will undoubtedly give up, in effect saying “sorry, I have other stops to make today, I’ll come back at another time.” Result is that the GR is put off, at least until another day.

Co-worker Relief

Even if potential users of the app are skeptical about its efficacy with respect to the Grim Reaper, the app’s developers add that it can be used to ward off annoying, chatty co-workers who insist on dropping by and chatting about their weekend, family, sports, medical issues, house/apartment-hunting, or anything else.

The app even has a “call myself” mode whereby the phone rings itself in a user-settable number of minutes. This allows the user to say “sorry, I have to take this call, it’s important.” However, the company says it is not sure how effective this feature is for holding off the GR.

Read more articles like this in our April 1st series in the Humor section of our Series Library.

Sponsored Recommendations

Wideband Peak & Average Power Sensor with 80 Msps Sample Rate

Aug. 16, 2024
Mini-Circuits’ PWR-18PWHS-RC power sensor operates from 0.05 to 18 GHz at a sample rate of 80 Msps and with an industry-leading minimum measurement range of -40 dBm in peak mode...

Turnkey Solid State Energy Source

Aug. 16, 2024
Featuring 59 dB of gain and output power from 2 to 750W, the RFS-G90G93750X+ is a robust, turnkey RF energy source for ISM applications in the 915 MHz band. This design incorporates...

90 GHz Coax. Adapters for Your High-Frequency Connections

Aug. 16, 2024
Mini-Circuits’ expanded line of coaxial adapters now includes the 10x-135x series of 1.0 mm to 1.35 mm models with all combinations of connector genders. Ultra-wideband performance...

Ultra-Low Phase Noise MMIC Amplifier, 6 to 18 GHz

July 12, 2024
Mini-Circuits’ LVA-6183PN+ is a wideband, ultra-low phase noise MMIC amplifier perfect for use with low noise signal sources and in sensitive transceiver chains. This model operates...