Although people are using their phones more than ever before, studies say that people across all age groups—particularly millennials—are lonelier than ever.
That’s why this new texting platform is aiming to spread kindness and connection all over the world by allowing people to send and receive compassionate texts from strangers.
Text for Humanity, the world’s first texting switchboard, was launched by cloud communications company Sinch in partnership with Mental Health America as a means of fighting social isolation from people’s cell phones.
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“Today, nothing is as personal and emotional to us as our phones. But although we use them 24/7 to communicate, we seem to feel lonelier, not happier,” Sinch CMO Jonathan Bean told Good News Network. “At Sinch, we believe mobile communication is the solution, not the problem. So what if people could start to get unconditional love from the phones we love unconditionally?
“We made the world’s first texting switchboard, where you send a text you would love to get, to a stranger,” he continued. “And in turn, you receive a text that someone in the world right now needs to hear. Because we’re more open and honest with strangers, these words have the potential to be relevant, personal and powerful. After all, we are human.”
All users have to do is text the word “Join” to the corresponding Text for Humanity phone number of their country.
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After that, users will simply be asked for their first name and country of origin before they’re ready to write a kind message up to 160 characters long. Each text is then sent to another random user somewhere in the world. In return, the user receives a sweet text from another random stranger.
Users can send and receive up to five texts every day. Since the service launched across 23 different countries last month, more than 7,000 kind texts have already been exchanged.
Mental Health America CEO and president Paul Gionfriddo said: “We know there is a lot of negativity online these days—and by taking a minute to deliver a simple, positive message to someone who may need it, each of us can help brighten someone’s day and lift up their overall mental well-being.”
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I just sent my first text and received one a few minutes later. We could all use a little kindness these days, even sending and receiving an innocuous text message.