Remember how mood-tracking apps were all over the place a few years back? It fed beautifully into the whole self-quantification phase that individuals had just embarked on. I wonder why it never became mainstream. I quite liked the idea and to be honest, I still do.
The intent was noble. An individual tracks his/her mood and some environmental conditions over a period, the application aggregates the information and throws out patterns that help identify factors that influence mood and thus productivity and voila, you have yourself yet another way to improve your overall lifestyle! For those caught in the race for productivity, apps like these seem God sent. Yet, somewhere amidst time-tracking, expense-tracking apps, this one just got left behind.
So here I am, trying to revive the interest this once had. I do see value in knowing what time of the day or month I am at my happiest. What was I doing that makes me happy or sad? Did my mood affect my productivity at work? I also think the HR in me would love to know this for the business teams I support. It is a fantastic way to provide timely counselling for an individual. I’d like to know if work allocation can be timed around mood data & productivity.
I do think mood tracking has great opportunity. There is a flip side though. I remember installing EmotionSense on my phone a year back. At the end of Day 4, I was thoroughly annoyed. I can’t pinpoint the exact reason – I think it was the notifications and just the fact that it was too much effort. After all this while, I am not sure. What I do know is that I uninstalled it rather quickly.
I’ve installed two other apps lately. I am going to see if they work for me. However, HR Pro’s – start thinking about the wealth of information an app like this can offer and the things you can do with it. Vendors – find a way to get an app out that works on ios, android and windows. Also, find a way to make it more user-friendly.
I think it’s time we start talking about mood apps again.
The HR Business Partner Story 