Should your phone detect and share your emotions?

[Doctor Q]

Article: A Smart Phone that Knows You're Angry

Researchers at Samsung have developed a smart phone that can detect people's emotions. Rather than relying on specialized sensors or cameras, the phone infers a user's emotional state based on how he's using the phone. The prototype system...enables people in a social network to view symbols alongside tweets that indicate that person's emotional state.​

And if you're mad at your smart phone for misjudging your emotional state and telling everyone else its conclusions, will it detect that too?

 

[ericrwalker]

Interesting, though I have no emotions.

 

[verwon]

Well, that's something I'd avoid like I would a plague carrier!

 

[Doctor Q]

I have a coworker who hits the keys on his keyboard harder when he gets frustrated. I can tell his mood from the sound of his typing when I pass by his office. So I don't need his phone to tell me.

 

[maflynn]

Interesting, though I have no emotions.

I didn't realize vulcans lived on earth during the 21st century

----------

I have a coworker who hits the keys on his keyboard harder when he gets frustrated. I can tell his mood from the sound of his typing when I pass by his office. So I don't need his phone to tell me.

I think there's a number "tells" for us to discern someone's mood. I think many of us avoid certain issues when we sense the other person is not in the best of moods

 

[Heilage]

... Why?

 

[ericrwalker]

I didn't realize vulcans lived on earth during the 21st century

Well my wife always says I don't have emotions....or don't show them atleast. It's more like, if I get something I want I am not going to scream lilke a 12 year old girl for example.

 

[soco]

Well my wife always says I don't have emotions....or don't show them atleast. It's more like, if I get something I want I am not going to scream lilke a 12 year old girl for example.

Same, although I think that's just us being guys. Or Irish...

I'm the type that doesn't even smile much at Christmas gift-exchange time, or get very upset at a funeral. I guess I just never feel the need to take the emotions that I do feel and throw them all around the room like an obnoxious sprinkler.

 

[Shrink]

... Why?

Exactly ^^^

With just a little more work we can eliminate human contact entirely. We can all talk to some inanimate device, which will sort of, maybe, frequently inaccurately, detect our emotions. Then we can all become hermits and avoid other humans entirely.

(I will admit, in some cases this would not be all bad!)

The advancing substitution of electronics for human interaction and communication is, IMO, quite disturbing.

But then, I'm an old and out of it troglodyte, who comes from a time when people actually interacted with each other.

 

[boss.king]

Yeah, then we can all be like 14 year old girls on Facebook ALL THE TIME! How could that possibly get annoying...

 

[mkrishnan]

With just a little more work we can eliminate human contact entirely. We can all talk to some inanimate device, which will sort of, maybe, frequently inaccurately, detect our emotions. Then we can all become hermits and avoid other humans entirely.

I think this is a bit much, too, but I for a long time have thought cell phones should embrace status indicators like instant messaging has/had. I for one could do without people who answer their phone to tell me they can't talk right now (who are nearly invariably vendors or contractors).

But who knows. Sometimes cutesy things like this find a use, like those mobile dating things that were a craze in Japan. Ultimately, the point of this tech is to deepen the connection with people, not eliminate it. If you didn't want to interact with people, why would you care what their emotional state was? You'd just not call/answer regardless of who they were (or turn the phone component of your mobile off completely ).

 

[416049]

Great when i thought social networks couldn't get anymore overloaded with information.... whats next? will it detect how you are moving e.g. running,walking, driving etc. and publish a symbol in combination with the your location service it already has?

 

[Shrink]

I think this is a bit much, too, but I for a long time have thought cell phones should embrace status indicators like instant messaging has/had. I for one could do without people who answer their phone to tell me they can't talk right now (who are nearly invariably vendors or contractors).

But who knows. Sometimes cutesy things like this find a use, like those mobile dating things that were a craze in Japan. Ultimately, the point of this tech is to deepen the connection with people, not eliminate it. If you didn't want to interact with people, why would you care what their emotional state was? You'd just not call/answer regardless of who they were (or turn the phone component of your mobile off completely ).

I don't want some machine alerting me to what IT thinks someone's emotional state is. Part of human development is learning to perceive the emotional state of others. That ability is the basis of empathy.

I don't see how depending on a machine to evaluate the emotions of others, rather than doing it yourself, deepens your connection with others. It is putting a machine between to people - I'm not sure how that deepens human connections.

I know I sound like a Luddite, and I have enjoyed much, if not all, of what electronics has brought into my life. I just have concerns about some of the less salubrious effects on the relationships between people.

I'm an old fart being dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century.

 

[Doctor Q]

I don't want some machine alerting me to what IT thinks someone's emotional state is. Part of human development is learning to perceive the emotional state of others. That ability is the basis of empathy.

Let's make an exception for machines that can help humans manage their emotions.

 

[Shrink]

Let's make an exception for machines that can help humans manage their emotions.

Agree^^^

But here we are not talking about a machine interpreting emotional state, but rather teaching those unable to "read" emotions to recognize them.

It's interesting that you brought up autism, because I was thinking of that when I wrote my post. While I have problems with the incredibly broad brush now used to diagnose autism, certainly you make an excellent point in that there are ways to use electronics to help learn to recognize emotional states in others.

(When I learned about autism, and was involved in the earliest research using operant conditioning with severely autistic children, we used Kenner's definition of autism - which was very specific and very narrow. I am overstating only slightly when I say that today, in my view, anyone who is "different" or socially inept is diagnosed somewhere on the "autism spectrum disorders".

Sorry - off topic.

 

[LethalWolfe]

I don't want some machine alerting me to what IT thinks someone's emotional state is. Part of human development is learning to perceive the emotional state of others.

But you can't perceive the emotional state of others via text which is one reason why text-based communication can feel limiting and/or lead to misunderstandings because we don't have the visual or audible ques from body language and tone of voice that we rely on to get a complete picture of what the other party is communicating.

Not that I'm saying this phone thing is a great idea, but people adopted to using emoticons and things like "/sarcasm" as a way to give emotional context to their written words.


Lethal

 

[Shrink]

But you can't perceive the emotional state of others via text which is one reason why text-based communication can feel limiting and/or lead to misunderstandings because we don't have the visual or audible ques from body language and tone of voice that we rely on to get a complete picture of what the other party is communicating.

Not that I'm saying this phone thing is a great idea, but people adopted to using emoticons and things like "/sarcasm" as a way to give emotional context to their written words.


Lethal

Point well taken.

I would still be reluctant to trust a program to interpret emotional state for me. As crude as they are, the smilies used here let the writer reveal his/her emotional meaning. And good writing contains it's own emotional content.

That having been said, I once again agree with you that conveying emotional content is difficult in written communication.

 

[Heebeejeebies]

For example, it monitors certain inputs, such as the speed at which a user types, how often the "backspace" or "special symbol" buttons are pressed, and how much the device shakes. These measures let the phone postulate whether the user is happy, sad, surprised, fearful, angry, or disgusted...

What if I'm just drunk?

 

[LethalWolfe]

I would still be reluctant to trust a program to interpret emotional state for me. As crude as they are, the smilies used here let the writer reveal his/her emotional meaning. And good writing contains it's own emotional content.

I agree. I wouldn't want a device attempting to interpret then broadcast out what I'm feeling. That would just cause more problems than it's worth.

If the tech kept the emotional 'guess' local I think it could be a fun thing to play around with (like a 21st century mood ring / two-way tamagotchi). I mean, if the device thought I was sad so it grabbed a funny lolcat pic off the net to make me to laugh that could have some novelty to it.


Lethal

 

[BreakGuy]

Can't wait for the time when your phone would take the liberty to post your emotional state of mind on Facebook.

Posted automatically on her unknown behalf from her Samsung Smartphone.
"Don't call Jessica; she's in a bitchy mood - must be on her period. "