Right now, 1463 people are going without something they probably consider essential — their cellphones.
But another 768 million, according to UNICEF, live daily without access to a much more important resource.
"We think we can't live without our phones, so why not use them to provide something people actually can't live without: clean water,"UNICEF's Tap Project asks.
The organization has created an app that, when downloaded, measures how long users forgo using their phones. And for every 10 minutes you abstain, you'll provide water to a child in need for one day.
The app runs in the background, even when a user's phone goes idle. Text messages and other notifications don't interrupt its time calculations — as long as you don't respond or acknowledge them.
Water scarcity already affects 2.7 billion people — nearly 40% of the world's population — for at least one month every year, according to the Water Footprint Network. One billion people face daily shortages.
The situation will likely worsen, too. Right now, one third of the world's rivers — groundwater for about 3 billion people — are drying or entirely gone, according to the World Preservation Foundation.
When people use the app (or rather, don't use), Giorgio Armani fragrances and other donors will give money to UNICEF, attempting to bring water to 728 million people worldwide. The project also accepts donations. Just $5 can provide clean water to someone for 20o days. Click here to give.
So instead of viewing 841 thousand cat photos or 10 million selfies today, people helped children, according to UNICEF's tracking statistics. Visit uniceftapproject.org on your phone to join them.
The project continues for another five days, until March 31. We assume UNICEF stops donating then.
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