“I Am Alive” App Allows Lebanese to Reassure Each Other After Explosions · Global Voices
Elia J. Ayoub

The Lebanese seem to have gotten so used to bombs that an app dedicated to letting your loved ones know you're alive seems inevitable. The app which goes by the name of “I Am Alive” is the brainchild of 26-year-old Sandra Hassan, a Lebanese student living in Paris.
Screenshot of “I am Alive” app
The way the app works is simple: every time an explosion happens, you just open the app and click. This automatically sends out a tweet announcing “I am still alive! #Lebanon #LatestBombing”.
Speaking with NPR blogger Rachel Martin, Hassan explained her motivation for creating the app:
“It was maybe a little bit frustrating that, we in Lebanon at least, that we're living in a situation that makes such an application necessary or useful. My way to express that frustration was to publish this app … kind of as a statement against what was happening, a statement of discontent if you will.”
Responses to the app varied. When famous Lebanese blogger Gino Raidy of GinosBlog asked people what readers thought of the app, most responses were negative:
@GinoRaidy sad and poorly done. There are many other ways to resist and state you are alive
— Uberstreet (@NourKhoury) January 25, 2014
@GinoRaidy dark humor much?
— Lama Miri (@LamaMiri) January 25, 2014
@GinoRaidy i don't like it. It's like they're telling us that we'll never be safe
— Mona (@MonaaSalemm) January 25, 2014
IT blogger Erik Neu from Mondegreen II shared their feelings.
This must be the saddest app ever.http://t.co/S8J9QnKZc0 #Lebanon #LatestBombing
— Erik Neu (@ErikNeu) February 3, 2014
However, PSFK blogger Ross Brooks has a more positive outlook on what the app represents:
“At times when mobile phone networks get flooded with calls from concerned relatives, the internet provides a better alternative to make sure your message gets through.”