Researchers from Harvard and University of Vermont have managed to build a software program that can accurately spot signs of clinical depression just by analysing people`s Instagram photos.

Using a set of machine learning tools, the algorithm combed 43,950 Instagram photos reviewing their "color analysis, metadata components, and algorithmic face detection".

From this data, the model was then able to detect signs of mental illness in the 166 Instagram profiles that were used during the trial.

GettyInstagramInstagram has over 300 million daily active users all posting photos that could be screened
70% of the time the model was able to correctly identify which Instagrammers showed symptoms of depression, even outperforming practitioners who carried out a face-to-face patient assessment.

The phrase "feeling blue" seems to also apply to filters, with the researchers finding that: "photos posted by depressed individuals were more likely to be bluer, grayer, and darker".

The team hope that by using computer learning they will be able to harness social media to detect early signs of depression by creating "a blueprint for effective mental health screening in an increasingly digitalized society".

GettyAnxious man looking at mobile phoneIn the future will we use social media as a tool to help identify people who are suffering from depression?
Using social media to psychoanalyse people raises ethical questions around data privacy. Despite the researchers highlighting that the software needs to be used ethically, the mere fact that your mental health can be screened from just your online profile, is a worrying thought.

Whether it will be used as a tool for good or not, one thing that`s for certain is that your social media profile is revealing far more than what you simply had for breakfast.

Source: Mirror

More about: