You may have heard the buzz surrounding a new app called Cloak. Cloak takes information from your social networks to show where your friends are, so you can avoid bumping into people that you don't want to see. It works by connecting to Foursquare and Instagram, then displaying your location and where friends have checked in nearby. If there is someone you want to avoid, simply "flag" them and Cloak will send you an alert when they are within a certain radius of you. The default radius is half a mile but can be changed to as close as one block, or as far away as two miles. In short, Cloak is as close as the app world is going to come to developing Harry Potter's mythical invisibility cloak.
Cloak seems like a dream come true for the "anti-social" or maybe for people who are just having a bad day. But is it taking things too far? Many studies have shown the positive correlation between in-person social interactions and happiness. Is essentially hiding from these potential interactions the best course of action? Honestly, probably not.
If seeing purported "friends" is causing a person enough unhappiness that they feel the need to go out of their way to avoid what would otherwise be a chance encounter, perhaps it's time to take a realistic look internally. Ask yourself if you could make it through a five minute conversation with the person you flagged. If you can't, ask yourself why they are even your "friend" in the first place. If the person no longer has a positive, meaningful influence on your life, it may be time to cut that relationship loose.
At first glance, Cloak may seem like an innovative solution to a problem. In reality, however, Cloak is just hiding a deeper problem, possibly even compounding it. You don't need an invisibility cloak in your life. Let's leave that to Harry.
