Slowly: the ‘penfriend’ app designed to make messaging more meaningful
Hongkongers Kevin Wong Ho-yin and JoJo Chan Sau-wun invented the app to slow down the pace at which we communicate, and 1.4 million users now make time to talk
Many of us have heard of the slow food movement, which has been gathering pace, in a manner of speaking, since gastronome Carlo Petrini protested the opening of fast-food chain McDonald’s in Rome’s Piazza di Spagna in 1986.
But slow digital messaging?
“Penfriend” app Slowly is designed to do just that. The brainchild of Hongkongers Kevin Wong Ho-yin and JoJo Chan Sau-wun, the app is intended to slow down communication in an age when the buzz and ding of smartphone notifications constantly demand our attention.
“In Hong Kong, the pace is very fast, almost suffocating. I’ve always felt that we need to slow down a bit,” says Wong. “Before, we would make phone calls, write letters and talk at a different pace.”
Slowly calls for more considered communication than do the likes of WhatsApp and WeChat.
Having created a nickname and avatar, interlocutors can browse user profiles, or be matched using an algorithm that takes into account language, age, location, sex and interests. They then write letters of a minimum of 100 words (tricky for those used to 140 characters or less) which, having attached a stamp – a range is available and these can be collected – are mailed, taking anything from 30 minutes to 60 hours to reach their destination, depending on where in the world the recipient lives.
