Early on we realized that it would be irresponsible for us to design another digital interface, when there is so much evidence citing our digital lifestyles are part of the problem. To create a truly effective solution we realized the app must be able to respond empathetically to how the child is interacting with it. A database of empathetic responses to human emotion did not exist so we decided to create one. We call it the empathy engine.

The Digital Friend App is designed to be a main interface for children. The collective data enables the algorithm to identify if a child’s mental wellness is deteriorating.The App logs data from multiple types of interaction, from text analysis to facial recognition.

To bring the conversation of mental health to the forefront in the home, we created a home hub that displays the collective mood of the family members to facilitate conversations about feelings.

The element of anonymity reduces the barrier to engage and encourages families to share how they are feeling and be mindful of their collective mental wellbeing.