Research shows people over-estimate the good times

New research was recently conducted at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where one of the first experiments took place using spy programs installed for the experiment on participants’ Nokia smartphones.

Over nine months, 94 students at MIT had their movements tracked by the spy software using bluetooth fields emitted by phones’ proximity to each other, phone calls and the phones’ proximity to phone masts.

The research lead by Nathan Eagle, recently named a leading young innovator by the MIT Technology Review, involved the student guinea pigs being asked to self-report the amount of time they spent with friends and non-friends alike. The research also looked at how happy they were at work.

When compared to the monitoring of movements, it was found that students over-estimated the amount of time they spent with friends and under-estimated the amount of time they spent with non-friends; possibly due to participants desire to spend more time with friends coupled with an attempt to downplay time spent with unfamiliars and even folk they didn’t like.

Researchers could also predict which participants were friends with a 95 per cent accuracy rate. This was done by analysing key periods of time like Saturday nights (well of course, no one wants to spend time on a Saturday night with non-friends!).

Although reliability reportedly wavered towards the end of the experiment, the ingenuity involved in this technique of study does open up a new method of social research: using mobile phone technology to measure the differences between one’s recall of their social activities, and their actual activities.

It was also found that those who reported being happier at work worked with their friends and those who were unhappy at work, made more phone calls to their friends during that time.

The study could encourage companies to try and improve co-workers’ relationships for the sake of productivity and happiness whilst benefitting workers themselves through a lesser reliance on their phone during work hours and cheaper phone bills.

What these spy programs could be used for in time is scary in terms of privacy if the programs are used covertly. Yet they could be interesting for social studies into the proximity of friends, or even people’s moods, the mood’s relationship to general activities and self-perception of time and events.

The study at least shows how time perception is relative (Einstein would be proud), even if people exaggerate the time they spend with friends.