Gen-Z created app R3ACH aims to combat loneliness and foster friendshipsamong young people

Good People is a bi-weekly article series highlighting McGill students doing community-oriented work on and around campus. Because it’ s important to celebrate good people doing good things. Why is it so hard to reach out? It is a simple question but one that resonated deeply with Aidan Licoppe, the co- founder and head of technology of the R3ACH app. With a background in coding and machine learning, Licoppe started to think about in-person social connection more seriously during the second year of his master’s program in experimental medicine at McGill. Licoppe realized it was becoming more difficult for young people to form new friendships as screen time and social media increasingly eclipse face-to-face hangouts. R3ACH, founded by brothers Aidan and Zachariah Licoppe and their friend Josh Campbell, was born out of a desire to do something about this problem. Launched in September, R3ACH aims to connect users to third spaces in their community. Similar to a dating app, R3ACH suggests social events in Montreal that users can swipe on to join. If a friend or mutual friend swipes on the same event, R3ACH opens a group chat with the time, place, and location of the event. “No more ‘what are you up to’ texts; no more trying to figure out conflicting schedules,” R3ACH promises on its website. Currently based in Montreal and Boston, R3ACH is looking to expand to more cities as its following grows. The Daily spoke to Aidan Licoppe about R3ACH. We talked about social isolation, the barriers to forming friendships, and how technology can be used to foster — rather than preclude — human connection.

This interview has been edited for clarity and conciseness.

Enid Kohler for The McGill Daily (MD): I want to start by asking about you. Why did you launch R3ACH? What is your background in technology? Aidan Licoppe (AL): I did my undergraduate [studies] in bioengineering at McGill. Later on in my degree, I got more interested in the coding and machine learning side. For my master’s degree, I switched to experimental medicine. I remember we were doing a class on digital health innovation, when we were talking about digital health solutions. One of our group members brought up the idea of loneliness. With that in mind in the summer, I talked to my brother and my roommate at the time, Josh. [Loneliness] is something that affects all of us, and especially young adults. We’re living in a time that is isolating us more than ever. We started brainstorming, you know, ‘How can we create an app that makes us less lonely and builds community?’ And then it just went from there.

MD: How would you pitch R3ACH to a potential investor in 30 seconds?

AL: The way we like to say it in one sentence is R3ACH is like Tinder for events, but you match with your friends. When you want to connect with people nowadays, there’s a bunch of barriers that get in the way, and R3ACH tries to address all of those together. There are a lot of apps that let you meet strangers, but we feel like that’s a band-aid to a broader problem of loneliness. We don’t think the problem is that you’re not meeting enough people, but it’s more that… you’re not building a community with them. I find that the best way to meet people is through your friends. R3ACH helps you with that, in the sense that any event that you match to, your friends’ friends can match to it too. So really you only need one friend on R3ACH to be able to get started. There’s also a feature for people to go to events solo, but, ideally, you go with friends and naturally start building more connections the more events you attend. MD: R3ACH’s Linkedin biography reads, “Creating a world where technology strengthens human connection.” I think we often perceive technology as having the opposite effect by limiting, instead of encouraging, human connection. How, then, does R3ACH use technology to foster human connection? AL: I think it’s such a counterintuitive thing that the technology we have now removes so many barriers associated withconnecting with people. At the end of the day, we have the most sophisticated algorithms ever, right? On top of that, we have all the technology to be able to message each other and to organize things easier [now more] than ever. But for some reason, these things are all being used in a way that facilitates [socialization] on the app instead of off of it. I think now, especially with our [shorter] attention spans, it’s so easy to go on Instagram reels or something and get that dopamine fulfillment. Hanging out nowadays has to be so much more interesting for people to even get out of their house. We hope people can instead go on their phones and say, okay, I’m going to go on my phone to get off of my phone to build those relationships. MD: What has the response to R3ACH been like since you launched two months ago? AL: It’s been really great so far. We’ve been doing some work on social media, talking to a lot of different groups, and trying to connect with student groups. One thing I noticed the most through my own use [of the app] is how much more people want to hang out than you think. MD: Have there been any challenges or obstacles that you’ve encountered during the development of R3ACH? AL: Oh yeah. I mean, with running an app — this is my first business — there are a lot of things you discover initially that you didn’t even realize were a problem. I think one of the challenges for us has been just competing with the burden of short attention spans and all the other apps that are out there, but we’ve seen that once people get to experience the app and use it among their friends, they really love it. MD: What is your vision for the future of R3ACH? In ten years, what do you hope R3ACH will look like? AL: In terms of a broad goal, I want R3ACH everywhere where we can have it. North America is our first target. I would hope that one day R3ACH would be the default way in which people can actually connect and build community among each other. MD: The tagline for this column is “good people doing good things.” In the context of your work with R3ACH, what does being a good person mean to you? AL: In terms of my work and what motivates me, [it’s] just to use your gifts in a way that helps people. Just having an open- mindedness to helping others, having empathy, and being able to be a person that cares for others. I think thinking outside of yourself is the most important way to be a good person. Learn more about R3ACH and opportunities to get involved on Instagram, @r3ach.app, through their website, r3ach.app, or download R3ACH on the App Store to experience it yourself. If you know good people doing good things who you would like to see featured in this column, email news@mcgilldaily.com.