Twenty years ago this summer I was sat at a kitchen table in Finland writing the early beta version of FrontlineSMS, a project which would go on to define my contribution to what was, back then, the fledgling world of mobiles-for-development. I’ve had a brush with the odd idea or two since, but never really launched a project in the same spirit. Until now.

It took a few of my recent LinkedIn posts discussing humanitarian crises around the world, in particular the horrors taking place in Gaza, that got me thinking. Most passed through people’s feeds without comment or reaction, but I refused to believe that people didn’t care about what was going on. It’s the same with environmental issues such as the climate crisis. We’re all now living its reality, and many people speak about their concern but don’t act. Why?

Unlike many of the problems that FrontlineSMS helped solve, apathy is something I suffer from myself, making this the first time I have a very personal motivation in trying to solve something. Public apathy to global crises is such a huge problem, too, and I haven’t found much about it online. All of this makes it a particularly exciting initiative for me.

apathy to action is a research and development project combining principles of Buddhist thinking with global activism, neurology and the latest behavioural research to identify technology-based solutions that help lift people who genuinely care from a point of apathy and helplessness to one of empathy, action and change.

The first phase of the project will last until the end of the year, and will focus on building a vibrant community of interest of people who feel a mixture of anger, powerlessness, frustration and disempowerment around global issues. The project launched with a founding essay which looks at the causes and impact of public apathy to global crises. I’ll be posting the essay as a separate post soon, but you can read it here if you can’t wait.

We’ll be firming up plans for the project in the coming months, but in the meantime we’d love for you to join us. If you feel any sense of apathy to what’s going on in the world you can find us on facebook and LinkedIn. And if you don’t use (or don’t want to use) either of those platforms, you can sign up with email, too.

I hope to see you there.