Socially Mindful

Login page
Create account page
Second create account page
Home page
Friend discovery page
Friends list section
Events section
Specific event page

Inspiration

If the COVID-19 crisis has taught us anything, it's that the balance between our mental health and our emotional health has not been equally maintained. With a lack of social interaction with individuals outside of our home, it's difficult to be able to be able to unwind and relax easily while also staying safe. We've realized as time has progressed that it has been very difficult to coordinate with others and meet new friends as many of us choose to confide in the friends we already have as it is very difficult to make new ones. However, we believe that's it's not the reticency of others that prevents them from making friends. People simply need an easy way to be able to meet new people and find social events to attend with other people. Not only is it proven that social interactions with friends improves mental health, it also allows for us to realize the true impact of being able to interact with one another.

What it does

In the Socially Mindful app, the user will be able to improve their mental health and mindfulness by having an easy and convenient way to met new people and attend events that others can attend. In the beginning, the user will be prompted to log in or create an account. When creating an account, the user will be able to attach a profile picture and select some of their interests. After, the user will enter a home page where they will see 2 options: Finding new friends or finding local events. When the user clicks on adding new events, they will be able to go through a list of people with similar interests as them and decide on whether they would like to further divulge with the person or simply choose to ignore/remove them from the list of recommended friends. After doing so, the user will generate a list of friends that they will be able to easily access from the home page. After this, the user will be able to see a list of recommended events nearby that appeal to their interests. This will allow them to gain further opportunities to attend more social gatherings (whether that be in person or virtual) and they will also be able to gain more opportunities to see their potential friends.

How we built it

We built this using Google Flutter and Firebase.

Challenges we ran into

Some challenges that we ran into were using our database with our code as this was our first time working with databases to store user data. Furthermore, we also ran into some challenges regarding importing the gallery to select a profile picture and also being able to incorporate many different profiles into our app without having too much data to parse through.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Some accomplishments that we are proud of are learning how to use flutter as we were beginners in regards to using flutter. Furthermore, we are also are proud of being able to make a decent-looking app that has some good functionality. Overall, we are pretty proud of being able to learn a new programming language and being able to use a mobile app.

What we learned

We learned how to use flutter and also how to code in dart. Furthermore, we also learned about incorporating a database into our code and other elements of creating pages, navigating between them, and using flutter to make a full-fledged mobile app.

What's next for Socially Mindful

Up next, we want to be able to use Azure in order to incorporate Machine Learning (image detection) into our code. This is because we want to be able to detect the objects/equipments that a user has in order to determine what the user likes, has, and what category this falls into. This will enable our app to make smarter suggestions and it allows the user to see what types of things the other person has, which is often an important factor when picking a friend (ie. The video games/video game console someone has - Taking a picture could allow someone to see the video game setup they have). Furthermore, we would also like to include a messaging app within the app to allow users to easily communicate with one another. Overall, we are proud with how our app turned out, however we know that there is still room to make many enhancements.