Ellen Isaacs
Thomas Lennig
ABSTRACT
As people document more of their lives online, some recent systems are encouraging people to later revisit those recordings, a practice we're calling technology-mediated reflection (TMR). Since we know that unmediated reflection benefits psychological well-being, we explored whether and how TMR affects well-being. We built Echo, a smartphone application for recording everyday experiences and reflecting on them later. We conducted three system deployments with 44 users who generated over 12,000 recordings and reflections. We found that TMR improves well-being as assessed by four psychological metrics. By analyzing the content of these entries we discovered two mechanisms that explain this improvement. We also report benefits of very long-term TMR.
- Browne, G., Berry, E., Kapur, N., Hodges, S., Smyth, G., Watson, P., & Wood, K. (2011). SenseCam improves memory for recent events and quality of life in a patient with memory retrieval difficulties. Memory, 19(7), 713--722.Google Scholar
Cross Ref
- Bryant, F. B., Smart, C. M., & King, S. P. (2005). Using the past to enhance the present: Boosting happiness through positive reminiscence. J. of Happiness Studies, 6(3), 227--260.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Cavanagh, K., & Shapiro, D. (2004). Computer treatment for common mental health problems, J. of Clinical Psychology, 60(3), 239--251.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Everyday.me http://www.everydayme.com/Google Scholar
- Church, K., Hoggan, E., & Oliver, N. (2010). A study of mobile mood awareness and communication through MobiMood. Proc NordiCHI '10, ACM Press, 128--137. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Consolvo, S., McDonald, D. W., & Landay, J. A. (2009). Theory-driven design strategies for technologies that support behavior change in everyday life. Proc. CHI'09, ACM Press, 405--414. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Fagerberg, P., Ståhl, A., & Höök, K. (2004). eMoto: Emotionally engaging interaction. Personal Ubiquitous Computing, 8(5), 377--381. Google ScholarCross Ref
- Grimes, A., & Grinter, R. (2007). Designing persuasion: Health technology for low-income African American communities. Proc. Persuasive Technology, Springer, 24--35. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Kanis, M., & Brinkman, W. P. (2010). Making mundane pleasures visible: Mediating daily likings with lightweight technology. Personal and Ubiquitous Computing, 14(3), 261--269. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Larson, R., & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1983). The experience sampling method. New Directions for Methodology of Social and Behavioral Science, 15, 41--56.Google Scholar
- Lyubomirsky, S., Sheldon, K. M., & Schkade, D. (2005). Pursuing happiness: The architecture of sustainable change. Review of General Psychology, 9(2), 111--131.Google ScholarCross Ref
- McDuff, D., Karlson, A., Kapoor, A., Roseway, A., & Czerwinski, M. (2012). AffectAura: An intelligent system for emotional memory, Proc. CHI '12, ACM Press, 849858. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Medynskiy, Y., Yarosh, S., & Mynatt, E. (2011). Five strategies for supporting healthy behavior change. Extended Abstracts of CHI '11, ACM Press, 1333--1338. Google ScholarDigital Library
- MemoLane http://memolane.com/Google Scholar
- Mitchell, T. R., Thompson, L., Peterson, E., & Cronk, R. (1997). Temporal adjustments in the evaluation of events: The "rosy view." J. of Exp. Social Psychology, 33(4), 421--448.Google ScholarCross Ref
- MorningPics http://morningpics.com/Google Scholar
- Munson, S. http://apps.facebook.com/threegoodthings/Google Scholar
- Peesapati, S. T., Schwanda, V., Schultz, J., Lepage, M., Jeong, S., & Cosley, D. (2010). Pensieve: Supporting everyday reminiscence. Proc. CHI '10, ACM Press. 2027--2036. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Pennebaker, J. W., & Chung, C. K. (2011). Expressive writing: Connections to physical and mental health. In H. S. Friedman (Eds.), Oxford handbook of health psychology (pp. 417--437). Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
- Pennebaker, J. W., Booth, R. J., & Francis, M. E. (2007). Linguistic inquiry and word count: LIWC {Computer software}. Austin, TX: LIWC.net.Google Scholar
- Seligman, M. E., Steen, T. A., Park, N. & Peterson, C. (2005). Positive psychology progress: Empirical validation of interventions. American Psychologist, 60(5), 410--421.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Sellen, A. & Whittaker, S. (2010). Beyond total capture: a constructive critique of lifelogging. CACM, 53, 5, 70--77. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Stevens M. M., Abowd G. D, Truong K. N., & Vollmer F. (2003). Getting into the living memory box: Family archives & holistic design. Personal and Ubiquitous Computing, 7(3), 210--216. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Toscos, T., Faber, A., Connelly, K., & and Upoma, A. M. (2008). Encouraging physical activity in teens. Pervasive Computing Technologies for Healthcare, IEEE, 218--221.Google Scholar
- Walker, W. R., Skowronski, J. J., Thompson, C. P. (2003). Life is pleasant - and memory helps to keep it that way!, Review of General Psychology, 7(2), 203--210.Google ScholarCross Ref
Index Terms
- Echoes from the past: how technology mediated reflection improves well-being
Recommendations
Technology-Mediated Memory: Is Technology Altering Our Memories And Interfering With Well-Being?
Technology increasingly allows us to capture and revisit rich digital records of our lives, processes which we call Technology-Mediated Memory (TMM). We explore whether TMM alters unmediated remembering and also whether such changes affect psychological ...
In Search of Forms for Evocative and Generative Reflection: Exploratory Studies and a Design Proposal
CHI '20: Proceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing SystemsToday an increasing number of personal informatics tools and platforms support intended behavior change and goal achievement through data-based self-reflection. The scope of self-reflection expands with emerging sources, goals, and challenges of human ...
The Safety Net of Aging in Place: Understanding How Older Adults Construct, Develop, and Maintain Their Social Circles
PervasiveHealth '18: Proceedings of the 12th EAI International Conference on Pervasive Computing Technologies for HealthcareActive engagement in social activities is important to maintain and promote healthy aging. In this study, we further investigate how older adults take the initiative role to support their health and well-being. To understand their active participation ...
Comments