Your stress level can be monitored with the way you use keyboard and mouse, says new study

How youtype on computer keyboard and moveyour mouse are indicators of how stressed you are feeling in the office, states a new study. According to an ETH Zurich study, people who are stressed move the mouse pointer more often and not precisely. They also make more mistakes when typing.

Researchers at ETH observed 90 participants in the laboratory and performed office tasks that were as close to reality as possible for the study. The participants had to typically plan appointments or record and analyse data. They recorded the participants’ mouse and keyboard behaviour as well as their heart rates. Researchers also asked the participants several times during the experiment how stressed they felt.

The researchers are currently testing their model with data from Swiss employees who have agreed to have their mouse and keyboard behaviour as well as heart data recorded at their workplace using an app.

The same app also keeps an account of the subjective stress levels of employees. Results should be available by the end of the year, states the press release.

The study though admits that checking on workplace stress and making people agree to get monitored can be tricky. “The only way people will accept and use our technology is if we can guarantee that we will anonymise and protect their data,” says psychologist Jasmine Kerr, co-author of the report.

“We want to help workers to identify stress early, not create a monitoring tool for companies.”