Tag: mobile technology

Mobile technology can detect boredom in users

| September 9, 2015

Researchers have now come up with a way for a smartphone to detect whether its user is bored.

According to researchers from Germany and Spain, it is now possible for a smartphone to be able to detect boredom in its user, which is a capability that has a great deal of potential for a broad spectrum of different uses.

The researchers examined 40 million logs from among 54 mobile device users throughout a span of 2 weeks.

The goal of the researchers who conducted this analysis was to determine whether or not mobile technology had the capability of determining when a device user was engaging with the gadget simply to kill time. By being able to make that determination, the hope was to be able to provide the user with suggestions in order to encourage them to use those idle periods for an activity that will be more useful to them and that will be a better use of that span of time.

There were 35 different mobile technology features that were examined in order to determine boredom.

mobile technology boredom detectionAmong those features was whether or not the smartphone had headphones plugged into it, whether the device was charging, and how long ago the phone received an incoming call. With these types of information, the researchers were able to develop an algorithm that their tests have shown can have an accuracy rate of up to 83 percent in terms of determining whether or not the user is bored.

Apps could be able to use this algorithm in order to encourage the mobile device users to contact their friends, to view a specific video, to include an article in the user’s read-later list, or even to do something that would encourage creativity, reflection, or introspection in the user.

The findings of the researchers were assembled into a paper called “Detecting Boredom from Mobile Phone Usage”, which will be presented this week in Japan at UbiComp. It is very likely that many of the attendees will be able to come up with a number of uses for this type of algorithm above and beyond those that were predicted by the people who developed it in the first place.

Mobile technology and PCs can take a decade off mental age

| September 8, 2015

Senior citizens who use these devices regularly can delay what could otherwise be cognitive decline.

Among the greatest fears that people face when it comes to aging is that their mental abilities will decline, but if the findings of a recent study are true, then it could be that the regular use of PCs and mobile technology could help to slow that process in a highly meaningful way.

Cognitive and mental decline were found to have been delayed in users of smartphones and computers.

The study was published in the respected medical journal, Intelligence, in which it was described that the use of computers and mobile technology could help to explain why today’s seniors seem to be four to eight years younger (on a cognitive level) than people of the same age a decade ago. The study showed that the positive impact of these computing devices held up, even when controlling for certain factors such as health, gender, and education.

The mobile technology study was conducted on participants in the U.K. and Germany who were 50 years and older.

Mobile Technology - SeniorsThere were about 2,000 participants in the study who were tested back in 2006. Then another group of 3,000 were tested in 2012. The conclusions were drawn by Valeria Bordone and her team at the International Institute for Applied Systems analysis.

According to Bordone, “We know that IQ (intelligence quotient) has been increasing for many decades.” The trend of continual increases in IQ is known as the Flynn effect, and it has been observed since the 1930s. The way in which it has been explained is that throughout this period of time, there has been a worldwide improvement to access to nutrition, healthcare, and education for the population as a whole. Despite the fact that these improvements have been subtle from one year to the next, they have given people the ability to access more mentally stimulating activities and to better their cognitive abilities. The outcome has been higher IQ test scores.

That said, Bordone explained that IQ is considered to be a very limited way of measuring cognitive skills, so this study involved a broader range of testing, to achieve greater accuracy. The link between the use of computers and mobile technology and the slowing in cognitive decline among seniors was shown by correlation in Bordone’s study, as opposed to being directly demonstrated.