Researchers Developing Smartphone Mental Health Surveillance App For University Students: iSee
Predictive technology is exploding across the virtual landscape. The arrival of Big Data initiatives by government, as well as a massive industry of data brokers is not only putting privacy at risk, but is offering those with access to the information unprecedented ways to micromanage our lives.
Most people now seem resigned to the surveillance of our communications devices, which have become so intertwined with modern efficiency, economics and knowledge that there are real tradeoffs when choosing a fully opt-out lifestyle. Wearable gadgets add a new layer still, and are being bought into at record pace, thus donating the information that isn’t already being stolen.
However, it might be our health information that is the most tempting, offering up potentially the most intrusive window yet into our everyday lives.
A group of university researchers studying the rising levels of depression in university students have just released their latest concept for a mental health tracking app called iSee that, in their words, will “enhance counseling services with mobile technology and big data analytics.” The system works with students who voluntarily want to have their daily movements tracked in order to provide data that might offer clues to a computer algorithm that can detect if they are experiencing signs of depression. The entire article is posted below with my highlights, but I’d first like to offer some additional background to this type of technology and why it very well could move from voluntary to mandatory over time.
In July of 2104 I covered a development by researchers at Tel Aviv University who stated that a “Smartphone App May Revolutionize Mental Health Treatment.” The following excerpts from the press release were highlighted as some very stark writing on the wall.
- There is a dire need for support services to assist clinicians in the evaluation and treatment of those suffering from mental illness.
- A new smartphone-based system detects changes in patients’ behavioral patterns, and then transmits them to professionals in real time.
- By facilitating patient observation through smartphones, the technology also affords patients much-needed independence from hospitals, clinicians — and even family members.
- Because most people own smartphones today, we thought, Why not harness the smartphone, a reservoir of daily activities, to monitor behavioral patterns? “Bipolar disorder, for example, starts with a manic episode,” said Dr. Nevo. “A patient who usually makes five or ten calls a day might suddenly start making dozens of calls a day. How much they talk, text, how many places they visit, when they go to bed and for how long — these are all indicators of mental health and provide important insights to clinicians who want to catch a disorder before it is full blown.”
Full press release available HERE
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