Today, our mobile devices have become our most appreciated entertainment and most faithful companion. They keep us company at home, follow us to school, work, the grocery store or gym. They never forget our favourite's team soccer game, our anniversary, or birthday. They are always there to offer us wise advice on where to spend our vacation, love life, spelling, what the stars have in store for us that day, our budget, investing, retirement savings, and how to manage our finances. Our smartphones are always there for us, never getting tired or bored, always doing their duty, no matter the hour, whether day or night. Your smartphone may, in fact, know even more than its owner do.
A growing number of researchers are starting to show interest for this and to scientifically investigate this data, hoping that studies in this field will help them to better understand what makes people happy or sad. Previous studies have proved that the early signs of a disease appear long before it can be diagnosis by medical tests such as MRI or blood samples. Other studies have found a direct connection between our emotion and moods with the overall health state we are in. Having this faithful companion, the smartphone, analysing our moods can help to detect early signs of a disease.
A growing number of researchers are starting to show interest for this and to scientifically investigate this data, hoping that studies in this field will help them to better understand what makes people happy or sad. Previous studies have proved that the early signs of a disease appear long before it can be diagnosis by medical tests such as MRI or blood samples. Other studies have found a direct connection between our emotion and moods with the overall health state we are in. Having this faithful companion, the smartphone, analysing our moods can help to detect early signs of a disease.
Scientists at the Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, in one of these studies have found a way to use the smartphone determining its user's mood. The mobile device could tell if you have an excellent day or if you feel depressed. The researches posted an ad on Craigslist with the purpose to recruit 28 volunteers: 8 men and 20 women with ages ranging from 19 to 58 were selected to participate in this study. The study involved collecting phone usage data and GPS information on each of the participants it the study. An application was special designed in-house for the purpose of this study, app called "Purple Robot". The volunteers in the study were also asked to complete several health questionnaires. It was found that half of the participants in the study had some signs of depression.
The study was published recently in the Journal of Medical Research. According to the report, people who spend more time using their phone are more likely to suffer of depression. However, a direct correlation between phone usage and depression didn't hold true for 100 percent of people. After more analysis, the way how people move through space in time and space was found to provide even stronger correlations.
The team of researchers was able to identify people showing symptoms of depression. Even though the results are based on a small sample size used in this study, the correlation between users' movement through space and time and symptoms of depression has been found with a startling 87 percent accuracy.
Future applications of this study can help finding if someone has depression without any need for patient's input, only via objectively and passively measuring patient behavior. Location variance, normalized entropy and circadian movement were the three ways of analysing the way someone moves in correlation with the presence and severity of depressive symptoms.
