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I sat a few tables away from a man with a deep, consistent, and disruptive cough. After several minutes of his incessant hacking, I thought two things: “Why doesn’t he get a drink or something to clear his throat?” And “He is really disrupting me while I’m doing my work!” Finally, I had enough. I grabbed my bag of cough drops, walked over to his chair, and tried to give him some. He politely and awkwardly responded, “Oh… I have Tourette Syndrome.” That’s when I realized what a terrible person I am.
While we all have awkward moments like this, one new app can help us better understand people who are different from ourselves.
It is called the Lifey App.
Lifey began when Alex Balinski envisioned a world where people needing advice could get it for free at a moment’s notice. When Balinski was a BYU student, he wanted to make free video resources available to prospective missionaries wanting to know more about their missions. He interviewed hundreds of returned missionaries, gathering stories ranging from conversion stories to stories of missionaries accidentally getting nail polish remover in their eyes!
Despite the popularity of the YouTube interview series formerly known as “Prepare to Serve” (now called “Lifey”), Balinski felt there was a better way to disseminate vlog-style information.
Recently, Balinski has expanded his vision. He has built the Lifey app to allow anyone to upload short videos of themselves sharing their experiences and insights, to benefit others. Anyone with a smart phone can now download the app. Once downloaded, the user can not only browse videos about their mission, but they can browse videos about debilitating health conditions they are diagnosed with, cities they want to visit, and soon, users will be able to browse videos about occupations, universities, and more!
After my previous experience with someone with Tourette syndrome, I watched several videos on the Lifey app about this condition. On the app, a man describes how to support those with Tourette syndrome. He said that those with Tourette syndrome do not want to annoy others, yet their condition does not allow them to completely control their tics. I am glad to know more now about Tourette Syndrome.
I see the power the Lifey app has to educate us about the uniqueness in our brothers and sisters around us.
Amazingly, the Lifey app does so much more than just raise awareness of certain health conditions. Within Lifey, users can learn about the cost of living, crime, tourist attractions, public resources, and more of a city they may want to live in. Users can share their testimonies of Christianity and view stories of faith from people around the world. Soon, users will be able to explore what a typical workday is like for every occupation, what the lifestyle is like, and what sort of training they can expect. The Lifey app will continue to add more and more topics!
As a people seeking Zion, we seek to lift and strengthen each other.
When Balinski created the Lifey app, he wanted people to share their life story (Life + Story = Lifey), and have that story benefit someone else. He hopes that this will allow people to connect and grow in a unique way.
If you would like to share your story and help others, download the Lifey app from the iOS app store or the Google Play store. Your contributions will help countless others as they go on missions, seek support for their health conditions, explore new cities, and more!
This guest post was contributed by Jonny Hatch, a BYU student intern for Lifey.
