Could Mobile Phones Track Happiness?

According to researchers at Princeton University, they're working on developing new ways to use mobile phones in order to better determine how environmental factors influence a person's sense of well-being.

The study used volunteers who agreed to provide information regarding their feelings and daily whereabouts via a cell phone that captured the information.

In order to conduct the study, the team created an Android application titled "How happy are you?"

Investigators then invited individuals to download the app and use it over a three week period. Two hundred and seventy volunteers in 13 countries were asked to rate their happiness via a scale from 0 to 5. Researchers believe that the application could help scientists better understand how environment affects emotion.

 "People spend a significant amount of time outside their census tracks," said John Palmer, a graduate student in the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and the paper's lead author, via a press release. "If we want to get more precise findings of contextual measurements we need to use techniques like this."

As the study notes that many of the volunteers lived in the United States, some also lived in Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Israel, Japan, Norway, South Korea, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

Yet researchers point out at this point that the main focus of collecting data is to determine the link between environmental connections.  "I'd be hesitant to try to extend our substantive findings beyond those people who volunteered," he said, via the release.

Results showed that male subjects tended to describe themselves as less happy when they were further from home. However, females showed different emotions regarding feeling and distance.

However, the team did obtain some preliminary results regarding happiness: for example, male subjects tended to describe themselves as less happy when they were further from their homes, whereas females did not demonstrate a particular trend with regards to emotions and distance.

"One of the limitations of the study is that it is not representative of all people," Palmer said, via the release.

What do you think?

More information regarding the study can be found in the issue of Demography.