Avoidance tactics: the rise of the new antisocial apps

Technology connects you with all the wonderful friends and lovers you want to see and speak to all the time. It irons out both logistical and emotional kinks: the “I’m five minutes away” WhatsApp confirms you haven’t been stood up, and the “I miss you!” text confirms you haven’t been forgotten.

However, sometimes you don’t want your besties only an iMessage away: you’ve got errands to run and being guilt-tripped into a coffee wasn’t on the schedule (“But we’re streets away! I can see you!”). Or perhaps you’re mired in a nasty break-up and every time they pop up on the group WhatsApp you feel like throwing your phone at a brick wall.

What you need is an antisocial network. A space where you can evade friends and carve out some personal space, without sealing yourself in a hermetic cave until you get out of your blue funk. And, ever attuned to your needs before the thoughts even form, app developers are creating these antisocial networks.

The newest and most interesting kid on the block is Cloak. The app uses location information from other social networks (FourSquare and Instagram at the moment) to work out where your friends are. It then informs you via push notifications so you can avoid anyone you’d prefer not to see. You can also view friends on a map or on a detailed list telling you how close they are, to the nearest mile. It’s free and currently available on IoS.

Critics grumble that in London’s vast sprawl, you’re actually rather unlikely to bump into an ex or former colleague. But what if you and your ex moved to the same area in order to be close to each other and in fact running into him at Tesco Metro is an unfortunate inevitability? Or you work around the corner from your old firm and end up scrapping with a former colleague over the last tomato soup in Pret several times a week? In fact, despite its sprawl, London shrinks to the size of a village when you’re at work or at home. Being Cloaked can save you from the equivalent of a town hall brawl.

Alternatively, perhaps you’ve got a consuming secret that you long to share — but your friends would be implicated/titillated/never speak to you again. Two apps cater for the urge to share without consequences: Secret and Whisper.

Using Secret, you share a confession with your network (in practice, those of your contacts who also have the app), though they won’t know it was shared by you. You must have a minimum of three friends before you start sharing (in order to protect your secrets). In theory, secrets that are liked and reshared can spread across the world — though the app’s developers insist you won’t be identified at any point. Posts are encrypted so that the Secret team doesn’t know what you’re sharing.

Ultimately, the philosophy is to challenge the sterile Instagram version of our lives, where we share what makes us look best, and return to a culture that prizes authenticity (even if it’s anonymous). The app is only available on IoS and in the United States at the moment but presumably expansion is intended in the not too distant future.

Whisper also enables users to share secrets. You can also respond to other Whispers with your own, and there is a private messaging app if you long to live in a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. You can browse by topic, so you can quell your conscience by unearthing others who have cheated on the other halves/shoplifted something/failed to give up their seat on the Tube. It’s free and available on IoS.

Cover your tracks and play off the record — just remember not to tweet about it.