shirgall Posted January 21, 2015 Posted January 21, 2015 A straightforward premise, track your mood when you are talking to other people to judge if you can stand the emotional toll of those in your surroundings. http://www.engadget.com/2015/01/20/peoplekeeper-app-launch/ But, of course, what happens when people share the information and we start looking at how groups feel about certain people? The mind boggles.
AynRand Posted January 21, 2015 Posted January 21, 2015 That is an interesting idea. I wonder the impact this would have if children used this app every time they associated with their parents.
BD91 Posted January 21, 2015 Posted January 21, 2015 My question is how much does this app factor in your mood as a function of all the going on's of your life piled on top of the given social interaction? I think it's a really interesting idea, but would like to see it fleshed out a little bit more.
J. D. Stembal Posted January 21, 2015 Posted January 21, 2015 Guy eating Chipotle makes me feel... gassy.
Kaki Posted January 21, 2015 Posted January 21, 2015 I find this very interesting and very strange. I wonder if this app, over a longer period, could help people to monitor themselves instead of relying on an external source to tell them how they feel or if it would achieve the opposite. I like the idea of people questioning their relationships based on how it makes them feel. It sounds strange to me though that instead of trying to practice how to sharpen your own gut feeling and emotional observation skills, this app does it all for you without any encouragement how to learn it yourself. It seems to me like an app that tells you if you are hungry or an app that tells you if you are tired. Maybe this is really helpful to begin with to get people focus more on their emotions. It would be very scary though if people who are used to the app would rely even more on it than before. I certainly would not want to outsource the job of observing my emotions, like Stef says, this is a muscle which needs to be trained.
Bouncelot Posted January 21, 2015 Posted January 21, 2015 I find this very interesting and very strange. I wonder if this app, over a longer period, could help people to monitor themselves instead of relying on an external source to tell them how they feel or if it would achieve the opposite. I like the idea of people questioning their relationships based on how it makes them feel. It sounds strange to me though that instead of trying to practice how to sharpen your own gut feeling and emotional observation skills, this app does it all for you without any encouragement how to learn it yourself. It seems to me like an app that tells you if you are hungry or an app that tells you if you are tired. Maybe this is really helpful to begin with to get people focus more on their emotions. It would be very scary though if people who are used to the app would rely even more on it than before. I certainly would not want to outsource the job of observing my emotions, like Stef says, this is a muscle which needs to be trained. I agree. It strikes me as very..... not sure how to describe it... It's like everyone now is being separated from them selves, they are being told not to trust themselves (makes them better slaves i suppose...) Let society tell you what to do, don't think for yourself, don't trust your own mind! Judgment is bad! This just seems like an extension of that. A way to soften what little skill people have left. It's very non-direct, non-confrontational. It removes accountability. "My app told me we shouldn't be friends.". In the right context, with the help of a therapist it could be an interesting tool to help those who don't have the right skills build them. I don't foresee it being used that way however.
BD91 Posted January 21, 2015 Posted January 21, 2015 I am actually reading Joshua Foer's "Moonwalking with Einstein" which details his experience going from a journalist looking to write an article about mental athletics and winds up training & successfully becomes US Memory Champion. Now, in the book Foer mentions how the art of remembering has been since lost to the halls of time because written word (and especially the printing press) made knowledge much easier to externalize & cheaper to obtain through mass publication of indexed books. Because in more ancient times you maybe had a massive 60 ft. + scroll of text and there weren't indexes or appendices back then so you could not quickly reference a point of information so it was much easier to memorize the information through clever mnemonic devices. It seems to me that this sort of integration of technology is an extension of that mechanic at work. Only, instead of losing the ability to remember large amounts of information with this app it seems more like losing the ability to comprehend your own emotions. That sounds pretty dangerous, in my opinion. 1
Filip Posted February 13, 2015 Posted February 13, 2015 The ad says something along the lines of "peoplekeeper will manage your relationships so you don't have to". Now unless this a virtue machine, that sounds very counter-productive. Also, keeping the people who make you feel the most comfortable seems like the perfect antidote to personal growth. 1
shirgall Posted February 13, 2015 Author Posted February 13, 2015 The ad says something along the lines of "peoplekeeper will manage your relationships so you don't have to". Now unless this a virtue machine, that sounds very counter-productive. Also, keeping the people who make you feel the most comfortable seems like the perfect antidote to personal growth. If you train yourself to seek out and like virtue, this mood ring will notice when you like someone. But, of course, if you have no self-knowledge it will come across pretty random, or crass.
Filip Posted March 1, 2015 Posted March 1, 2015 I suppose it can be a useful aid for staying in touch with one's emotions - and I can see how certain results would be a good place to start thinking about the people in your life. The ad, however, doesn't seem to promote such use - hell, even the topic title is more about less reflection, rather than more.
shirgall Posted March 1, 2015 Author Posted March 1, 2015 I suppose it can be a useful aid for staying in touch with one's emotions - and I can see how certain results would be a good place to start thinking about the people in your life. The ad, however, doesn't seem to promote such use - hell, even the topic title is more about less reflection, rather than more. Agreed, and I admit I was being snarky in bringing it to people's attention. No "mood ring" is a substitute to enlightened introspection.
Filip Posted March 2, 2015 Posted March 2, 2015 Agreed, and I admit I was being snarky in bringing it to people's attention. No "mood ring" is a substitute to enlightened introspection. I appreciate the time you took to share it, it is certainly an interesting idea, especially for this community. Did you actually try using it? Or anyone else? Maybe they could share their experience with it.
shirgall Posted March 2, 2015 Author Posted March 2, 2015 I appreciate the time you took to share it, it is certainly an interesting idea, especially for this community. Did you actually try using it? Or anyone else? Maybe they could share their experience with it. No, I haven't tried it. I think it was a piece intended to gauge interest in the product. Such things get placed in the gadget media from time to time. I suspect most people that are really interested in this are also interested in journaling, and there has been plenty of study on the effectiveness of that.
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