Social touch is essential for our social interactions, communication, and well-being. It has been shown to reduce anxiety and loneliness; and is a key channel to transmit emotions for which words are not sufficient, such as love, sympathy, reassurance, etc. However, direct physical contact is not always possible due to being remotely located, interacting in a virtual environment, or as a result of a health issue. Mediated social touch enables physical interactions, despite the distance, by transmitting the haptic cues that constitute social touch through devices. As this technology is fairly new, the users' needs and their expectations on a device design and its features are unclear, as well as who would use this technology, and in which conditions. To better understand these aspects of the mediated interaction, we conducted an online survey on 258 respondents located in the USA. Results give insights on the type of interactions and device features that the US population would like to use.
翻译:社会接触对于我们的社会互动、沟通和幸福至关重要。 社会接触已被证明可以减少焦虑和孤独;它是一个传递情感的关键渠道,其语言不足以表达情感,如爱、同情、安慰等。 然而,直接身体接触并非总有可能,因为地理位置偏远,在虚拟环境中互动,或者由于健康问题。 尽管距离遥远,但媒体社会接触通过设备传递构成社会触碰的偶然信号,却能够促进身体互动。 由于这一技术相当新,用户对设备设计和特性的需求和期望并不明确,用户将使用这种技术,以及这种技术的条件也不明确。为了更好地了解媒体互动的这些方面,我们在美国对258名受访者进行了在线调查。 结果揭示了美国民众希望使用的相互作用和装置特征的类型。