A Study on Self-awareness Development by Logging and Gamification of Daily Emotions

Lifelogging records personal data generated from one’s own physical and emotional activities in daily life. It is widely used to discover sleep, exercise, or socializing patterns. In recent years, wearable devices and mobile applications have been used to automatically log daily activities, expanding the capabilities of lifelogging applications for a variety of purposes. One such application is the development of self-awareness, comprehensive knowledge about the self with which one may discover their inclinations and set clear goals to enhance future performance. This study proposes an approach for improving self-awareness that allows users to precisely review personal standards and levels of happiness and stress using a smartwatch and mobile application. Related work is investigated to understand the various types of methods and purposes involved, and a survey is conducted to gain insights on daily activities that induce specific emotional states. The findings support dividing one’s daily activities into seven categories, which are socialization, leisure, eating, sleeping, working, studying, and other, and an effective mobile application is thus designed. The potential for behavioral changes and the positive effects of the gamification of data visualization to be deployed in the mobile application are also discussed.