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Mandatory confinement as a measure to stop the expansion of the coronavirus has awakened a dormant solidarity that seemed nullified by the ultraconnectivity of new technologies. Neighbors, those complete strangers when you live in a big city, now are those other human beings who greet you or give you a knowing look from the balcony and the windows, because we are all in this .
A warmth at a distance that seems to be uniting us again in a more human and less digital way. To facilitate communication and community help in the neighborhoods, beyond speaking loudly with the person in front when you hang your clothes, the Nextdoor application launches a solidarity map where you can offer and ask for help.
The app is not new, it was born in 2008 and was officially launched in the US in 2011 . Its premise is to generate a social network of neighbors to build community and communicate local problems that affect specific areas. Since 2018, the year it landed in Spain, the platform works in more than 3,000 neighborhoods in more than 250 cities.
In addition, taking into account that all Internet traffic has increased by 80% , the number of people who register in the application does nothing but grow. This is the case of Gonzalo, who recently returned from Scotland, where he lived and worked, to take care of his family and quarantine with them.
Now, apart from taking care of the family purchase , it also does that of the dependent neighbors, with reduced mobility or with risk profiles. "With the quarantine, we can only know if the neighbor across the street needs us or at most, someone from our same ladder, but thanks to the Internet and applications like this, the range of action is extended, " he explains through the platform itself.
Registration is very easy, first you have to enter the postal code to place the user in a neighborhood, then they will ask for an email and a password, the real name is not mandatory but the platform itself states that "using the real name generates trust and a good atmosphere in the neighborhood . " You can link the phone number, although it is not mandatory, as well as the location, being able to choose between always giving permissions, only when using the application or never.
The user profile can be personalized with profession, hobbies, useful data such as indicating if you know how to do a resuscitation or have minimal health knowledge. You can also add photos, something that makes things easier to put faces to the neighbors and facilitate the feeling of community .
Emotional Support
Within the application, the 'Nextdoor Groups' function is used to propose and join neighborhood initiatives . Currently, this section of the app, like others, is focused on quarantine, with emotional and psychological support and even telematic training (now that everyone has a mat and three-kilo weights, as can be seen in 90% of Instagram stories). For example, the most affluent groups have names like "people alone and in quarantine", "exercises during quarantine", "Covid-19: You are not alone @, speak" or "I need a hug".
In the beginning, you can publish post with which the rest of the neighbors can interact , commenting or saying thanks with an emoticon. This week, in the Chamberí neighborhood, many of these publications are proposals for balcony activities such as a mini-concert (each neighbor on his balcony with an instrument), free streaming classes (chess, public speaking) and requests for medical supplies .
In the app, available for iOS and Android, official information from the Ministry of Health and each Autonomous Community is also included, providing specific prevention tips and announcing the latest updates and protection protocols, something extremely important in a scenario in which WhatsApp audios and hoaxes cloud the information.
Solidarity map
To contribute its grain of sand during the current crisis, the app launches a new addition, the 'help map', especially useful during this crisis. Through this solidarity map, we can both offer our help and ask for it, not only for ourselves, we can indicate that you need a person who may not have access to the Internet or social networks, for example.
In sections like this, there is a lot of difference depending on which neighborhood you live in. In the case of Madrid, in neighborhoods such as Usera or Puente de Vallecas, the map is much more crowded , both requesting and offering help with purchases, taking the dog out or going to the pharmacy.
However, if we live in districts such as Centro or Chamberí, the panorama changes , there are hardly any green dots that indicate each request (in the Arapiles, Chamberí area, specifically there is one, Roberto, a good neighbor and a better person, who offers himself for who may need you.
This lack of active users does not mean that there are four neighbors to the 'I am Legend' (science fiction movie about the misadventures of the only survivor in a post-apocalyptic world), it comes to represent that in these areas there are more tourist or student flats, that during this quarantine they are unemployed. An x-ray of the different neighborhood communities in the big capitals .
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