A survivor of the Parkland shooting is making a difference by creating a smartphone app to help people manage their emotions.
Kai Koerber was a junior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School when the Parkland shooting claimed 17 lives.
“When you go through something traumatic, there’s a range of emotions you deal with, and you kind of want something to meet you where you are at,” shared Koerber.
The now 23-year-old said that experience propelled him to guide himself, his peers, and others through their stages of grief. He gave keynote talks to try to answer the question, what is the best way to manage your emotions?
“A professor of mine actually sat with me and said, ‘You know what, Kai,’” recalled Koerber. “People really want just something they can scream at. And gives them what they need, because it serves the dual purpose of you venting at something or with something, and the giving you an immediate painkiller for the issue you are having.”
That’s where the idea of "Joy" was born.
It’s an AI app that listens to the sound of your voice and determines what you are feeling.
“The first thing that comes up is this big recording button, and say anything you want to say in any language you want,” he explained. “It will recognize how you are feeling from the sound of your voice in real-time, and then it will recommend a set of mindfulness practices that are key to that emotional state.”
For example, Koerber spoke into the phone, and at first, "Joy" thought he was disgusted. Koerber said the app doesn’t always get it right on the first try.
And that’s OK. You can also pick what you are feeling.
So Koerber chose "Happy," one of the seven emotions to pick from. The app then suggests a list of practices to help you manage that emotion. For example, the app shared, “Once you have identified a specific example, share humor with a coworker.”
“A lot of the practices we have are under a minute long, so it’s stuff you can do, let’s say, on your way on your commute somewhere," Koerber explained. "And that was also the goal with this. You didn’t want it to be 20 minutes of finding time to do mindfulness activities. We wanted them to be practices you could do anywhere at any time. Some people describe them as snackable mindfulness practices essentially.”
The app also allows you to log how you feel, keeping a record book to see how you’ve changed.
Koerber worked on the idea for three years and unveiled ‘Joy’ this September, already with roughly 700 users.
“I hope that it makes an actual difference in people’s lives, and I hope to hear more success stories,” stated Koerber.
Koerber said this was never part of the plan, “I initially wanted to be a rocket scientist.”
But mindfulness geared AI is now his focus.
He said the more people who use the app, the better the algorithm will become at detecting the right emotion.
As for what’s next?
He’s hoping to one day use this technology in schools and school districts.
“I think it really also transformed my definition, my own personal definition of what mindfulness was and what mental health practices kind of were,” shared Koerber. “I think people will, as I have experienced, find that it’s a much more expansive version of what mindfulness is today.”
