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From Mark Twain’s novel The Prince and the Pauper to Eddie Murphy’s movie Trading Places to the reality series Wife Swap, people have fantasized about trading lives with complete strangers. You may think someone else has the life you dream of, until you discover that the grass isn’t always greener on the other side. Or maybe it is… How would you know unless you traded lives with someone else?
20 Day Stranger is a social experiment app in development by MIT Media Labs Playful Systems and The Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values that is designed to heighten understanding among cultures by letting us virtually experience the life of a stranger for 20 days.
From the website:
“For 20 days, you and a stranger will experience the world in your own way, together. You’ll never know who it is or exactly where they are, but we hope it will reveal enough about someone to build your imagination of their life… and more broadly, the imagination of strangers everywhere.”
This video shows you how 20 Day Stranger works:
20 Day Stranger will pair you anonymously with a partner who is a fellow app user somewhere in the world so you can experience their daily life for 20 days. The app uses information from Google Street View, Instagram and Foursquare to give you anonymous and general information about your partner’s daily life and send information about your life to your partner. You don’t need to actively send information about yourself, the app does it for you.
The app sends general information about your day to your partner. For example, if your partner visits a park, you may see an Instagram photo from someone else that was taken at a park. If your partner is driving to work you may see Google Street View photos of their commute within a 1/2 mile radius of their location. If your partner visits a coffee shop you may receive a photo posted onto Foursquare by someone else from a coffee shop.
You have no way of knowing the identity of your partner. No names or exact locations are shared and no direct communication between the partners is permitted until the very end of the 20 day period. At that point, when the experiment is finished, you are allowed to send one (and only one) message to your partner: you can bid them fond farewell, reach out with contact information, or just thank them for participating, it’s up to you.
The app has not yet been released but you can volunteer to help test the app out now by going to the 20 Day Stranger website and applying to participate. The app is due to be released in a few months, first as an iPhone app and then later as an Android app. Stay tuned to The Wonder of Tech for news about the upcoming launch!
Poll
Would you like to trade lives with a stranger using the 20 Day Stranger app? Vote in The Wonder of Tech poll and let us know:
Your Thoughts
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to trade places with a stranger? Will you be signing up to test the app? Will you be getting the app when it launches? Let us know your thoughts in the Comments section below!
** Many thanks to Wonder of Tech reader cho cho for suggesting 20 Day Stranger to me!
Hi Carolyn,
This would be interesting for a lot of people but both partners need a smart phone, so it would be limited. I share people’s lives through Skype all the time. I’m frequently amazed at what I am told about! This week one of the students told me she has an offer from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. I suggested she take it rather than come to the UK whihc is twice as expensive. Another student in China has written a novel and she showed me their apartment using video chat. I also talked to her cousin. In exotic Wolverhampton another student is applying for job and writing her dissertation.
I also talked to Simon on the telephone, he was off Land’s End in a boat heading out to an island and was lloking for the Lighthouse. Being the source of all knowledge I told him where it was!
You will notice my post today was written by a guest writer! 🙂 I did the editing…
Hi Mike, You’re right, both partners have to have smartphones for this experiment as it uses the location features of the phone to give the other person an idea of their partner’s life.
Good point, tech is really connecting us around the world, giving us a window into each other’s lives. When my daughters were visiting China two years ago on a student exchange I got a Skype tour of an apartment where one of them was staying. Very cool!
Hi Carolyn,
Sounds interesting indeed 🙂
But it’s kind of scary too that you share your life with a complete stranger for 20 days. I guess for those who want to make new friends and connections, it might be a wonderful idea as you get to know the other person very close this way by keeping an eye on their whereabouts, just as they keep an eye on yours.
However, I don’t think I would really be the right person to sign up as you never know who the person on the other side might be also. Had I been alone without a family, perhaps things would have been different, but with grown up daughters, one always thinks 3-4 times, not just twice!
Thanks for sharing. Have a nice week ahead 🙂
Hi Harleena, You bring up an important point. This way of connecting is anonymous but children might be confused about the difference between 20 Day Stranger and meeting strangers on the Internet. It would be very important to have children learn the difference between the two.
Idea is really great. If apps are now being developed to bring people together by understanding each others value system and culture it means technology is equally bring people close. It is awesome and hope to have this gadget soon.
Thanks a lot for sharing such a wonderful post.
Hi Mi, Yes, it would be very exciting to see if you were paired with someone from a different country and a different culture. What a great way to learn about a different way of life!
You can sign up right now to participate, Mi, or wait until the app is launched.
Hi Carolyn,
WOW!! Really Great app
Truly very informative and unique feature in this app i surly install this app in my phone most importantly i love the photo sharing feature in this app.
Thanks for sharing have good day 🙂
keep posting
Hi SmithLopez, I’m glad you like this app and I hope you’re paired with a very interesting partner!
Now that’s different Carolyn.
I don’t like that they aren’t really getting the true information like if you’re at a park they’ll get a photo of a park maybe from Flickr but not where you actually are. Like I think you should be able to take a picture of where you are and then let the app send it to them, something like that.
I think it’s kind of cool but right now with me leading such a boring life working online all day they would not like knowing my life for 20 full days. LOL!!! Maybe later when I take a trip, that would be more fun for them at least.
Thanks for sharing this, pretty cool invention actually. Are you going to participate?
~Adrienne
Hi Adrienne, Yes, it’s a delicate balance between sharing your life with a stranger and protecting your privacy. The Google Street View pictures give actual pictures from within 1/2 mile of your location. So if you see Big Ben you would know that your partner is in New York. If you see a kangaroo in the wild, your partner is probably in Australia.
I thought the same thing, Adrienne, my life is so boring my partner would probably feel disappointed. Maybe doing this experiment might be incentive for us to do more exciting things?
Great question, I do want to participate but will probably wait until the app comes out. Summertime is very busy for me with the girls home from school. I’ve even debated going down to publishing twice a week over the summer but I have way too much tech to cover to only have two articles a week!
I hope you do give 20 Day Stranger a try, Adrienne. :-bd
Hello,
Sounds interesting and I’m gonna check this app soon enough. Meanwhile I must say I’m really impressed with this cool concept of 20 day stranger. I guess I will need more details to know about it completely.
Hi Samir, Yes, more details should come out when the app is available to the public in a few months. Stay tuned to The Wonder of Tech to find out when that will happen!
Hi Carolyn
Strangest App Ever!
It will be awesome to use this app, to trade life with a total stranger. Although there’s not much to it, but still it’s a great idea. Who knows what they might get into this app after the launch?
Will try it out.
Thanks for sharing!
Hi Anarag, That’s great you’re going to try this app out. I hope that you get a very interesting partner.
Great question, it will be fascinating to see what this lab comes up with next