As lockdowns dragged on across the world, many people switched to web-based mental health services, from apps to Zoom-based therapy sessions. Entering this crowded market later this month is evrmore, an “emotional wellness GPS” for 16- to 24-year-olds, or Gen Z.
Users are encouraged to take a break from editing the performative highlight reel of their social media lives and to get real by talking into their evrmore app. “Heroic” quests help users take a more positive approach to growing up in today’s society, see life as something exciting and challenging, and to build the ability to sustain oneself along the way.
Battling Cognitive Load
“Our cognitive load is in overdrive and our executive functions are shot,” says evrmore Founder and CEO Ivy Mahsciao. “Heavy use of chatbots and video-based social platforms has hijacked our personal stories and placed lots of hidden stressors in how we present our digital selves to the world. Through evrmore, I want to bring positive and humanistic psychology into technology.”
Evrmore uses “a combination of voice and emotion AI, including voice-based reflections, audio journaling, and interactive quests, to establish a baseline for each user via natural language processing,” Mahsciao says. Machine learning then adds “context to that intelligence, mapping the various mental states of the user over time, to give us a rich seam of social and emotional learning-centric data.”
We didn’t get to test the app, as it was still in development when we spoke to Mahsciao, but talking about feelings is a key part of evrmore. The idea is to receive support from the app, rather than the constant dopamine drip of social media validation.
As Mahsciao puts it: “What could possibly be more powerful than having people focus on their strengths and self-knowledge to build them up?”
A Deeper Understanding of Human Systems
Mahsciao is an experienced product/user experience designer; she worked at agencies that served clients such as British Airways, Pfizer, Nike, and Microsoft. But she wanted a deeper understanding of human systems, and signed up at MIT Sloan for certification in applied neuroscience and system dynamics. Along the way, she also took a detour into non-Western approaches to life’s mysteries.
“My encounters with a strikingly unique lineage of Tibetan Buddhist teachers came as I was struggling with some disillusionment from the baggage that comes with a long agency and consulting career,” says Mahsciao. “These brilliant scholars, PhDs in neuroscience and psychotherapy with a life-affirming commitment to science and integrative health, jolted me back to life. They had masterfully woven ancient wisdom traditions with science to distill the profound phenomenology that is the nature of reality, down to digestible bits.”
Mahsciao is boot-strapping evrmore, relying on crowdsourcing for the app launch, and maintaining a lean team. She’s partnered with AI companies Symbl and V.E.R.N, plus advisors from Lifenome and InVibe, to keep overheads low.
Unlike many other “wellness” apps, the business model is not focused on bounty payments that lead users to human therapists. Instead, Mahsciao is launching with a direct-to-consumer subscription ($9.95 to $15.95, based on package, with in-app purchases for extended features), while developing a managed services model for educational and youth/health organizations.
Launching at the end of August, first on iOS, evrmore will then roll out across other platforms, including as an Alexa Skill. Obviously, as an app that targets young people, Mahsciao is lawyered-up to stay on the right side of the authorities with a data privacy policy and Inclusive Betterment Principles.
