‘Scrolling Therapy’ App Lets Parkinson’s Patients Use Social Media With Faces
For patients suffering from Parkinson’s, social media may not be what comes to mind when thinking of therapies that can help slow the progression of the disease. But what if a ‘Scrolling Therapy’ application could help fight the neuromuscular disorder?
That’s exactly what advertising agency Dentsu Creative and health company Eurofarma have come up with, harnessing the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to encourage users to make various facial expressions while controlling their social media feeds.
Just by smiling, frowning, or raising their eyebrows, patients can skip ahead to the next video or scroll text up and down while exercising their facial muscles to keep them strong.
According to the agency, 89% of Parkinson’s patients suffer from Facial Masking—a symptom that makes it difficult for one to express their emotions through facial expressions. Just 45 minutes a day of muscle exercises could slow its progression, but only 3% of sufferers practice it.
That’s where Scrolling Therapy comes in as an impetus to encourage patients to perform these facial exercises regularly while keeping occupied on social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram.
Offshore Services Director, Sebastian Porta, who has battled the disease for years, said the idea behind the application was to create a technology that could improve the lives of users through a fun activity.
Patients can now access the application on Google Play in English, Portuguese, and Spanish. An iOS version is on the way.
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[via Muse by Clio and The Stable, images via Dentsu Creative Argentina]
