Smartphones getting smarter: Can your smartphone tell if you're depressed?

A Block Box to your Emotions revealed by your Mobile Device

Changes in technology have greatly affected the advancement of society. It has also affected how we live our lives. Technological advances have started to seclude human beings from real life experiences that they should be facing on a daily basis. Recent studies reveals that Smartphones are a black box that reveal our emotions and causes of depression.

MUNTINLUPA CITY, PHILIPPINES (Catholic Online) - Technology may bring different aspects into the mobile realm. We can check emails while on the go, video call while on transit and do almost every other activity we need to online. Society has greatly changed and adapted with the current trends technology has offered to us.

Unfortunately, recent studies shows that technology and mobile devices are not actually keeping us connected with life and society. In reality, we are actually secluding ourselves from a possible life we should be living.

The Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine revealed in its recent study that the scenario, where one spends most of his or her time with his phone on a static geographic location, could be a possible link to depression and several other negative feelings we encounter in life.

The study, published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, reveals that the depressed people spend most of their time with their mobile phones compared to non-depressed people.

"People are likely, when on their phones, to avoid thinking about things that are troubling, painful feelings or difficult relationships," explained David Mohr, one of the study's senior authors and a professor of behavioral psychology at Northwestern, in a statement. "It's an avoidance behavior we see in depression."ť

He further explained that depressed people tend to push people away, withdrawing their emotions and at times avoid having their emotions revealed. This behaviors, self-seclusion and being introverted, are being pushed further by entertainment one receives from Smartphones.
 
Using GPS, the researches tracked subjects for two weeks, composed of a mix of depressed and non-depressed people. In terms of phone usage, the study revealed that the participants who were depressed used the aggregated data with 87 percent accuracy.

However, in contrast, the study revealed Smartphones can be used as accurate tools in measuring a patient's daily activities. This data can be used by health care providers to trigger and recognize the possible solutions and interventions needed in a particular patient.

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