Google's creativity is evidenced in my favorite news story of the week: The company announced on Wednesday the release of their Mail Goggles program. This is just genius. The idea? To prevent those embarrassing drunken emails, the program poses a few simple math problems that must be answered within a number of seconds before the message can be sent. If you're too drunk to manage, your message is held until the morning.
The problem of drinking-and-typing is a well-known phenomenon.
Typically, the recipient is an ex of some sort or another, and the
regret the sender feels in the morning can be profound. At least,
that's what I'm told. I wouldn't know, since I'm careful to unplug all
communication devices any time I indulge. This follows from an unfortunate incident last year with Greta Van Susteren. You didn't ask, but I'm telling you anyway: Apparently there’s a scientific name for this now -- the “online disinhibition effect” -- which psychologists use to describe the way in which people behave with less restraint in cyberspace. A study published in the journal CyberPsychology & Behavior suggested that several psychological factors lead to online disinhibition: “the anonymity of a Web pseudonym; invisibility to others; the time lag between sending an e-mail message and getting feedback; the exaggerated sense of self from being alone; and the lack of any online authority figure.” Add in several White Russians, and you've got trouble.
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written by LW, December 16, 2008
written by LW, December 16, 2008
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