Frustrated with lockdown? This social media platform is offering cashback to complain anonymously

• India has been under lockdown for over a month now. With only five days remaining in lockdown to end, anxious individuals are expecting another extension.
  
• Vent All Out, a social media platform is allowing users to vent all their frustration out.
  
• VAO allows people to keep their identity anonymous which will allow them to vent out freely.
  
• The idea is to ensure the mental well-being of users by letting them pass all the negative energies.
  
  

For years, memes saying all I need is food, wifi and sleep in my life have been trending. In reality, people who get to do just that, are now bored and frustrated more than they ever were.

Millennials — who are used to living solo — are stuck with parents at home and have nowhere to go. Whereas, married couples — who are busy with their professional lives otherwise — are quarantined together. If the theory of ‘distance makes the heart go fonder’ is applied, then the opposite effect is taking over all those ‘stuck’ together.

After being locked down for over a month, most Indian states are in no mood to relax it as cases rise. To cater to people stuck inside, Vent All Out, a social media platform is allowing users to vent all their frustration out. Basically, people can criticise anyone and everything without facing any ‘serious’ consequences — like a fight between a husband and wife.

VAO allows people to keep their identity anonymous which will allow them to vent out freely. People can also seek advice to cope up with anxiety, stress or depression from a panel of experts.

“During COVID-19, the platform has seen significant growth in terms of traffic and content. From sharing their stories, people are also seeking advice to deal with stress and anxiety during lockdown from our panel of experts,” said Sumit Mittal, the founder, and CEO of VAO.

The idea is to ensure the mental well-being of users by letting them pass all the negative energies.

Vent and Earn

What’s better than getting rewarded for venting out? VAO, which has over 12,000 registered users on its platform, said the new feature 'Vent and Earn' allows users to earn a cashback.

The feature, which can get users cashback of up to Rs 12, needs to be a minimum of 100 words for venting, and 50 words for comment. These have to abide by the guidelines of VAO and any abusive, anti-national or plagiarised content will not be allowed.

Over the period of lockdown, the platform has seen a surge of 20-23% in traffic in about a month.

(With PTI)
See also: Is Sachin Bansal right? Does work from home really suck?