Like, Poke, Hug? Facebook Vest Simulates A Warm Embrace


facebook

What good is a Facebook like if you can’t actually feel the love coming off of the screen?

The Like-A-Hug vest, created by Melissa Chow, Andy Payne, and Phil Seaton at the MIT Media Lab, aims to give lonely Facebook users the physical attention they desperately crave.

Chow writes:

“Like-A-Hug is a wearable social media vest that allows for hugs to be given via Facebook, bringing us closer despite physical distance. The vest inflates when friends ‘Like’ a photo, video, or status update on the wearer’s wall, thereby allowing us to feel the warmth, encouragement, support, or love that we feel when we receive hugs. Hugs can also be sent back to the original sender by squeezing the vest and deflating it.”

What do you think of the Like-A-Hug vest?

Despite the social network’s growing size (Facebook just announced it has reached 1 billion users) some say that the network is putting more physical distance between people. Will the Like-A-Hug vest be able to bridge the gap between social communication and real world affection?

It may not be a real hug, but it’s like-a-hug. I guess…


Kossi

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