Real or Fake Feelings

"Imagine being able to detect exactly how other people are feeling, even when they are trying to hide their emotions" (D'Alto). The article by Nick D'Alto,

"Making Mona Lisa Smile" is about a new software, the Facial Action Coding System which can recognize emotions based on muscle movements. Some people think this technology can be useful for many industries, however it can have negative effects on some. The use of this technology to read the emotional expressions of students in a classrom is not valuable.

Students may have personal issues and it is not necessary for classroom's to know the emotions an individual is going through. As the article explains how muscle movements connect with how someone feels, it states, "Eckman has classified six basic emotions---happiness, surprise, anger, disgust, fear, and sadness..." (D'Alto). This demonstrates that the technology can only dectect a few emotions. The technology may get confused and it could determine an incorrrect emotion. The Facial Action Coding System does not offer enough emotions and could therefore make a mistake. In a classroom, students do not need a computer to inform the emotions they feel. Instead, students should learn to communicate how they feel with words. Not every emotion should be shared. They may have a problem at home or could be getting bullied. The emotions shown from the technology will just make the case worse. It is not valuable to use technology to understand emotions of others. When the article explains how every emotion is universal, it states, "Each expression is compared against a neutral face (showing no emotion)" (D'Alto). This statement is not valid because it is not possible to have no emotion. Every thought, question, word, and sentence has emotion. This means the Facial Action Coding System does not have accurate results.

A classroom should not have a piece of technology that has no purpose. Teachers should ask for feedback and have students express their emotion whichout a device. Technology should not take over feelings. A computer problem could take away jobs of teachers. The Software will only make things worse in the classroom, which proves it is not useful.

The use of the Facial Action Coding System is not vaulable in a classroom because the technology does not provide accurate emotions of students, does not teach students life skills, and it makes the situation worse. Students should focus on communicating with each other and not developing ways for humans and computers to communicate.