Want to avoid your friends? There’s an app for that!

Guest post by my colleague Diane Bruce, Office Co-ordinator.

I’m sure many of us have bumped into a friend when not looking their best or not in the mood to chat or make small talk.  Well, now there’s an app for that!

New York Student, Scott Garner has launched the “Hell is other People” app: a self-proclaimed “experiment in anti-social media” which uses location-based social networking site, Foursquare, to track any friends who have checked into locations nearby.  These locations are then plotted on an ‘avoidance map’ to show safe routes and locations where these people can be avoided.

Of course, the map only works if your friends are avid social media users, checking in to virtually every place they go and you still run the risk of bumping into them when they’re en route.

Garner noted on his site that his app is: “partially a satire, partially a commentary on my disdain for social media and partially an exploration of my own difficulties with social anxiety.”  But if you really want to participate in an anti-social network, it seems that you’ll have to log off altogether.

Yes, the slick new app does help you avoid everyone you know. But there is a catch… first you have to share exactly where you are!