Amy Giddon and Creating an App to Spread Empathy
“Empathy is about finding echoes of another person in yourself.”
Today, in the era of virtual communities, you can expand your social circle broader than ever. Social media creates a digital landscape where you can make global connections, and access to diverse people, cultures, and perspectives is readily available with just a click. While some people use these platforms to connect with long-distance family and friends, maybe even network or meet new people, often they become tools to broadcast your narrative rather than deeply connect with others.
So, despite social circles seeming to expand, studies show that loneliness and disconnection are rising while close relationships have begun to dwindle. For many, it's more likely to have hundreds or even thousands of followers that know only your persona instead of a best friend who knows who you are with no filter.
Place this evolving, digital society against the backdrop of the physical distance demanded by the pandemic over the last year, and it's easy to understand why loneliness has become a health crisis. We have become consumed by sharing our experiences without the urgency to understand others to feel connected. When used without intention, virtual societies serve as a mere placebo for social relationships. Empathy not only connects you to the people within your immediate circle. With a deeper understanding of others, we will develop compassionate leaders, build better businesses, and create a brighter future. So, the question becomes, "how can we use our technology for better?".
Amy Giddon recognized the trend toward loneliness way before it became a health crisis. Loneliness is caused by more than just isolation. Connection and empathy aren't exactly stereotypical qualities for people drawn to the hustle of the city that never sleeps. But for Amy, a native New Yorker, it was the weight of division created by the 2016 elections that unveiled the problem of disconnection and the loss of empathy within our society. In one of the least likely places -- a New York City subway -- she witnessed people eager to connect and overcome the division presented in the media through a project called Subway Therapy.
This was the initial spark that bred Daily Haloha, Amy's startup. Daily Haloha is her solution to make participatory social projects global. It merges concepts from social media and self-help to make you feel more connected to yourself and others all around the globe. The mobile app makes empathy accessible again by gently guiding users toward self-reflection, reciprocity, and perspective-taking. Every day the app prompts you to fill in the blank on a daily reflection. That reflection gets shared with another user within the app. There are no bots or gimmicks. It's just a simple memo to an anonymous pen pal, of sorts. Its design is simple, and sleek, and still transforming.
Before starting Daily Haloha, Amy worked in corporate America as both a consultant and executive, helping companies create better cultures for their employees, which translates to better services for their customers. In everything she does from her work in women's leadership, serving as a corporate consultant, and now launching Daily Haloha, her mission is the same: to help people connect with themselves and others.
