Web Secret 574: People Walker

A couple of weeks ago, I had dinner with my friend Rochelle Sharpe. Rochelle is a Pulitzer Prize winner and a previous staff reporter at the Wall Street Journal. So when she talks, I listen.

She told me that she is working on an article about loneliness, which scientists tell us is a very serious and epidemic problem.

Why, in an era when technology makes it so easy to connect, we should feel increasingly alone is not clearly understood.

Rochelle asked me if had heard about "The People Walker" in Los Angeles.

I had not.

So as soon as I got home, I googled it. Turns out the people walking idea was already getting press in 2016. An article in The Guardian described how an aspiring actor came up with the idea.

I also learned that People Walker is now a full fledged app, allowing lonely people to connect "with safe and reliable walking partners on-demand."

Coming soon to an urban center near you...