You would think that we would not only be smart enough to recognize the bad people in our lives but also smart enough to get rid of them. Unfortunately, humans are not. Maybe technology can help us out.
Enter pplkpr, a new app that tracks your physical and emotional responses to the people you interact with. The app, which was created by tech-based artists Lauren McCarthy and Kyle McDonald, pairs up with a wristband or any other smart wearable device with Bluetooth LE that can monitor your heart rate in real time. An algorithm measures your heart rate to determine how happy, anxious or angry you are when certain people are around you.
Of course, if pplkpr tells you someone makes you feel joy, you might feel reluctant at first to act upon that new information. Luckily, pplkpr is also like your pocket matchmaker because the app can also automatically text and tweet people it thinks you should hang out with more often.
It makes me kind of sad to think that we're either not intuitive enough or just not self-aware enough to differentiate between the people in our lives who make us feel good from the ones that make us feel bad. "We have a pretty good feeling for how something went online, but in person we just don't do it," said McDonald in a video describing a test run of the app among freshmen at Carnegie Mellon University. McDonald was referring to how we can so easily "Like" something or share our feelings on social media, but that doesn't always transpire in our real-world interactions. Now doesn't that just make you want to rock back-and-forth in a fetal position?
However, when you do have data to back something up, it always sounds more convincing. Using reason instead of emotion may help encourage more people to take a good, long look at the people they hang out with. "Using the app as a justification for not wanting to spend time with someone is a lot more definitive than just saying like, 'I'm uncomfortable,'" said one participant of the test run in the video.
Though technology is starting to give us a deeper, more comprehensive look at our lives and our choices, there's always the possibility that it can be used for an alterior motive. No, I'm not talking about evil robots taking over the world. Yet. But even McDonald acknowledged in the video that pplkpr sometimes reminds him of "a potentially dystopian future." As Co.DESIGN points out, if pplkpr really wanted to succeed, it could use the data gathered for marketing purposes, for instance.
But for now, we can just see if it recognizes a bad friend in the bunch.
