Damn....like people ain't crazy enough already.

The thread title is only a slight exaggeration. Show of hands....who would attach this thing to their head?

http://techcrunch.com/201...ngoai:JNRc



Gadgets
Hands-On With Thync’s Mood-Altering Headset
Posted Jun 2, 2015 by Kyle Russell (@kylebrussell)


Thync Mood-Altering Headset Demo

Thync is launching its mood-altering headset today, letting you find a state of calm or boost your energy with controls on your smartphone.

As we reported back in October, the Los Gatos-based startup has raised $13 million to change your mood using electrical stimulation. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to try on the headset (or even see it) when the startup was ready to talk about its financing.

That’s no longer the case. During a recent visit to Thync’s beautiful offices (they’ve renovated an old opera hall), I got to strap the startup’s mood-altering wave generator to the ol’ noggin.

As it turns out, Thync’s gadget is more of a module than a headset. It’s small, plastic, and contains a Bluetooth radio for connecting to your phone. You attach it to a disposable adhesive strip, which you apply to your temple and neck.


When you open Thync’s app, it quickly connects to the module and then lets you choose between two emotional states: calm and energy. Once you begin, you can dial the intensity of the experience up or down, giving you control over just how mellow or excited you’ll be at the end of a session.

During the demo, Thync co-founder and CEO Isy Goldwasser explained that the module wasn’t directly stimulating neurons in my brain (that would be too damn weird for me to try, to be honest). Instead, it uses tiny pulses of electricity to stimulate the skin at your temple, which then activates the instinctual fight-or-flight response in your brain to indirectly affect emotional response.

In use, you get a wavy, tingly feeling on your upper forehead and the front of your scalp. It’s not unpleasant, but it would definitely take a few uses before it stops feeling weird.

While I was warned that Thync might not work the first time, a few minutes into my first session (using the Calm setting) I felt a wave of sluggishness pass over me. I had some difficulty putting words into a coherent question for Goldwasser, and felt a strong urge to take a nap that lasted until I got home. While I may have cranked the settings too high for my first go, the impression I got was that it would be great for falling asleep, not de-stressing at the office.

I didn’t have time to try out the Energy mode, but if it works as effectively as the Calm mode, it should make users wired. I could see myself using it to get that initial boost of energy needed to get to the office and started on work that coffee gives today. At its $299 launch price, those who buy Starbucks or the like every day might have found that use case making some monetary sense, though the need for $20 replacement packs of the disposable adhesive strips after five to fifteen uses — and the Borg-like visage of having the module strapped to one’s forehead — might turn potential users away for now.

no thank you. i mistrust the long term effects of those headsets and exposing brain tissue to electrical current.

morningsong said:

Either its snake oil, which is highly possible or its the first step towards another 'fear'. No. I wouldn't opt to have electric impulses altering my mood. Long term effects?

I'm trying to figure out why anybody would trust some faceless person of unknown background in a unknown location to transmit whatever signals or frequencies to a device directly attached to their brain?

And pay them to do it.

XxAxX said:

no thank you. i mistrust the long term effects of those headsets and exposing brain tissue to electrical current.

It used to baffle me when I would see people walking around trying to look important as though wearing bluetooths on their ear for hours on end was some kind of status symbol.

To me it just made them look like they were controlled by the Borg or something.

NorthC said:

I guess this is another "sign o' the times". We live in a time where people want to control everything and where having fun is the highest goal in life. So an app like this is perfect. Feel bad? You shouldn't! Push a few buttons and... It's really another drug, isn't it? Yes. I read the piece again and, yes, this is a drug. [Edited 10/4/15 9:44am]

Totally agree. I could see this becoming yet another addiction/escapist strategy.

if you do not like it do not get it

There is a book with this premise but I can't remember the name of it.

No FDA regulation either.

Be sure to read the comments.


"How long is it before some college football coaches are putting these things inside linebackers' helmets and cranking them up to 50 or whatever?"


http://www.wsj.com/articl...1437503825

[Edited 10/4/15 15:37pm]

babynoz said:

No FDA regulation either.

Be sure to read the comments.


"How long is it before some college football coaches are putting these things inside linebackers' helmets and cranking them up to 50 or whatever?"


http://www.wsj.com/articl...1437503825

[Edited 10/4/15 15:37pm]

so what if they do?

not to suggest it applies to anyone here but this topic that seems opposed to this silly app got me thinking: how many of the people all twisted up over this support marijuana or other drugs being legalized?


or people so lost in their own self centered thinking that want to ban therapy to 'cure' gay people?


or those that freak out when a political figure says they pray about decisions?


Or when they say they talk to psychics or mediums?

(FYI: I do not care about this app it is nonsense, I am opposed to making drugs legal, I believe that: most people on medical marijuana are just getting stoned--but i do not care, if someone wants to get cured of being gay it is none of my concern and parents have a VERY wide right to seek it for their minor children if the kids do not like it they can sue to be emancipated, all mediums are either delusional or charlatans...

and what the hell say sould the FDA have on this app? that is silly it not a food and it is not a drug...

babynoz said:

morningsong said:

babynoz said:

No FDA regulation either.

Be sure to read the comments.


"How long is it before some college football coaches are putting these things inside linebackers' helmets and cranking them up to 50 or whatever?"


http://www.wsj.com/articl...1437503825

[Edited 10/4/15 15:37pm]

Who is to say its not already happening to some degree, if I'm reading the article correctly there are already devices, much more expensive that do something similar that have been on the market for years.

I wouldn't be surprised if it is happening to some degree. From what I gather this is the first to hit the DIY consumer market though.

I didn't find any data on the long term effects of any similar devices either.

A scientific study,....long read

http://www.nature.com/art...discussion

babynoz said:

A scientific study,....long read

http://www.nature.com/art...discussion

.

i worked in a wellness center wherein various' therapies' are applied to reduce stress in the patients. TENS units are applied to affected areas of the paitient to address neuropathies and increase blood flow; eyemask/goggles emitting synchronized electrical pulses and flashes of light are used to 'relax' the brain; and fractal based pattern imagery is projected onto a screen while the patient watches and rests, attached to multiple scalp electrodes that monitor brain patterns for biofeedback purposes.

.

interestingly, the 'results' of this 'treatment' differed from person to person. some folks hated the light goggles, some were more sensitive to the TENS units. one lady became very angry after her experience with the light goggles, that is - she came in to relax and ended up furious. it was odd. i don't know what went wrong there..... she just... hated the goggles

.

XxAxX said:

babynoz said:

A scientific study,....long read

http://www.nature.com/art...discussion

.

i worked in a wellness center wherein various' therapies' are applied to reduce stress in the patients. TENS units are applied to affected areas of the paitient to address neuropathies and increase blood flow; eyemask/goggles emitting synchronized electrical pulses and flashes of light are used to 'relax' the brain; and fractal based pattern imagery is projected onto a screen while the patient watches and rests, attached to multiple scalp electrodes that monitor brain patterns for biofeedback purposes.

.

interestingly, the 'results' of this 'treatment' differed from person to person. some folks hated the light goggles, some were more sensitive to the TENS units. one lady became very angry after her experience with the light goggles, that is - she came in to relax and ended up furious. it was odd. i don't know what went wrong there..... she just... hated the goggles

.

And that is exactly the reason why it's probably not a good idea for the FDA to decide to allow this app to be marketed as a "lifestyle" product that anybody can use all willy-nilly to zap themselves with. They have basically turned a TENS type unit into yet another recreational toy.

In a wellness center or a similarly therapeutic environment where there are controls in place and people on hand to monitor the response, it seems to me that would be the responsible way to apply the therapy. We are all wired differently, hence the one lady you mentioned who went haywire with the goggles. What if she was home alone or with a small child when she had her meltdown?

But what the hell....anything for money I guess.