
Instagram photos reveal predictive markers of depression - mcone
https://epjdatascience.springeropen.com/articles/10.1140/epjds/s13688-017-0110-z
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jbob2000
TL;DR - If you post a lot of gray pictures of yourself with a sad face that
nobody likes or comments on, you are probably depressed.

They used the color of the photographs, number of people in the photos, level
of engagement, and happiness rated by Mechanical Turk to determine depression.

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jogjayr
Wait so they didn't actually go back and see if the people they identified as
depressed had a diagnosis of clinical depression?

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graphememes
What, you thought this was an actual scientific study?

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matthewmacleod
It literally is a peer-reviewed scientific study. Middlebrow cynical
dismissals are boring.

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nylonstrung
a peer-reviewed scientific study at the height of the replication crisis

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krakensden
And in 10 years, this will be a part of your Citizen Score.

I should burn this nickname and be more diligent about persona management. Or
get off social media entirely.

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davidreiss
> Or get off social media entirely.

Wouldn't that be a bigger red flag?

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notheguyouthink
Red flag of what, though? Eg, I stay away from social media, and create
burners for just about everything (rotating burners semi frequently depending
on how many random details I post, etc) - so what am I an indicator of? I try
to be a Ghost.

I'm sure a ghost is an indicator for _some_ things, but the majority of it is
just speculation right? I have trouble thinking of how a lack of information
about someone could be harmful as a _source of information_.

Now, I could see it becoming harmful in that I have to have some type of
Citizen Score to apply for jobs, be accepted for loans, get insurance, etc
etc. That's quite reasonable, imo. Yet, it's still _seems_ different than
being a source of information, e.g. this person is unstable, or this person is
depressed, etc.

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davidreiss
> Red flag of what, though?

If your employer/government/etc asks you for your
facebook/google+/instagram/snapchat/etc account and you say you don't have
any, it might come off as being suspicious. As if you are trying to hide
something. The same thing with your banks/financial institutes/etc.

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notheguyouthink
Well I guess that's what I meant by information vs actually being harmful. I
expect it to have negative effects to loans/employers/etc.

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vlucas
Not just photos, but in general I've found that the people who are
continuously posting how happy their lives are and how everything is great are
most likely the ones who are utterly miserable.

I have been seeing a woman's posts lately who is going through a bitter, ugly
divorce, and it's astounding how she represents everything publicly via
Facebook when I know the full story due to a family member being involved.

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vit05
Someone that is miserable is not exactly someone that is suffering from
depression.

This research is for finding a clinical condition and make less expendable the
cost of health programs, not to evaluate the life of others based just on
opinions. Suicides are the second-leading cause of death among teenagers. But,
some people are just "not a happy person". That doesn't mean that they are
unhappy, sad or suffering from depression.

I really like this comics from Oatmeal that talk about that.
[http://theoatmeal.com/comics/unhappy](http://theoatmeal.com/comics/unhappy)
the essay that this comic is based
t[https://outline.com/r6q4Ga](https://outline.com/r6q4Ga)

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jpalomaki
Would it be acceptable for Facebook to try to make you less depressed by
changing what you see on your feed?

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eternalvision
They do this, or at least have done this. If a "digitally depressed" person
has exhausted all possible suggested friends, FaceBook proceeds to suggest
friends that they assume will be sexually attractive to you, as an example.

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motoboi
Would be great to have this as a service where you could analyze your own
instagram feed for signs of trouble.

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fredley
Clippy, 2018: It looks like you're depressed, can I help you with that?

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dkns
166 isn't really a representative sample, is it?

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have_faith
User, it appears you are trying to upload a photo displaying negative
emotions. Please upload a new photo expressing a happiness quotient of at
least .75 as per terms and conditions.

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AndrewKemendo
It's possible and mutually beneficial to instead send that user targeted ads
for therapy, suicide hotline etc...which is effectively what happens.

The cynical dystopian insinuation around technology, on a technology site no
less, is getting old.

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confounded
It's not about technology. It's about power, capital, and society.

We already know that Facebook/Instagram can manipulate your real-world
emotions and thoughts by what it chooses to show you.

We also know that susceptibility to ads for different products varies
depending on emotional state and context (pre 'surveillance capitalism' it was
well known that you could get much bettter responses to aspirational products
as the weekend approached, and to products like make-up on Sunday evenings as
the work-dread sets in).

The question is, if you have a load of high-value inventory to shift, but your
audience isn't susceptible to it, why not treat this as an optimization
problem and make them?

It's the right thing to do for your shareholders, completely legal, and near
undetectable.

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AndrewKemendo
_The question is, if you have a load of high-value inventory to shift, but
your audience isn 't susceptible to it, why not treat this as an optimization
problem and make them?_

Susceptibility to action is binary. If the audience isn't susceptible then
they won't ever convert, or take action.

I'll never buy a Yoni Egg [1], and no amount of targeting or putting
advertisements in front of me will cause me to make a purchase of one.

However there might be a world in which I would buy a box of feminine
products, even though I am a man. For example if my daughter is sick or
incapable of getting them for herself. In which case, a social or other
network knowing that

1\. I have a daughter

2\. That she is sick

3\. What her time based need of these products is

4\. That there is a preference for a certain product in this category

5\. I can get the product cheaply or easily

Makes my life easier, by saying: "Hey [user] we see that you may be in a
scenario that this particular product/service would be helpful right now"

Even though at that point I might not even know that I need to help get that
when I go to the store because of social anxiety or embarrassment preventing
from asking.

So yes, I believe in an all seeing all knowing AI god that will guide and
optimize our behaviors. That is not a sarcastic comment.

[1][https://yoniegg.com/what-are-yoni-eggs/](https://yoniegg.com/what-are-
yoni-eggs/)

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exergy
Your example is laughably contrived, unrealistic, and so full of plot holes
that my fingers would tire from typing all my thoughts out. By contrast, the
very real privacy invasion damage that invariably occurs in the kind of world
that you're advocating for is well documented, and dystopian in the extreme.
The never forgetting Internet, the different insurance rates, the illegal
files on every citizen etc. I want no part of such a world.

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shubb
But we're in it right?

And it is a world where non participation might equate to a negative profile,
so the bay we can do is understand the enemy and curate perfection, while
engaging in a real way only when anonymous (so far as that can even be
achieved).

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confounded
It can be regulated against, more transparency can be enforced. Despite the
enormous lobbying from Facebook and Google in the EU, I could imagine it
happening there within five or ten years for example.

There's a real tendency on HN to get all Ayn Rand and forget we live in a
society. In relative terms, this is a very new business model. Companies will
push for more power, and they get it unless people push back. As people close
to the problem, we need to see ourselves as responsible for influencing the
discussion about type of society we end up with.

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mmjaa
Corrolary: Instagram usage makes you depressed!

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droopybuns
We used ML and assumptions like: "Group photos are an indicator of happiness"
to guess if a person is depressed.

God help the millennials. The only winning move is not to play.

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computerex
They didn't use that as an indicator of depression. All they did was pass into
the model the number of faces in the frame. The analysis afterwards suggested
that depressed people tend to not have group photos.

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baby
Shit, I don't have group photos :(

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coldtea
Do you also have the other markers?

It's not like a single marker determines everything.

It's not even like having ALL markers means one is 100% depressed.

It merely gives you a confidence score in the person being depressed.

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a_t48
On the other hand, if you do have all the markers, maybe you should step back
and consider.

