Can Tracking Your Moods Make You Happier?
追踪情绪能让你变得更快乐吗？
By Julie Jargon
Tracking daily steps can motivate us to walk more. Tracking sleep can reveal problems such as sleep apnea. Can tracking our moods make us happier?
追踪每日步数可以促使我们多走路。追踪睡眠可以提示睡眠呼吸暂停等问题。那么，追踪情绪会让我们变得更快乐吗？
There are now many tech ways to log where you fall on the happy-sad spectrum each day. The latest big player to enter the arena is Apple. Its latest software updates include a way to log your state of mind.
当下，有许多技术手段可以帮你记录每天的情绪有几分快乐、几分忧伤。最新涉足该领域的巨头就是苹果公司。苹果最新的软件更新中包含了一个记录情绪状态的功能。
If you already track your exercise and sleep on Apple devices， you will be able to view that data alongside your moods. Then you can figure out if you feel better on days when you sleep well or exercise more.
如果你已经在使用苹果设备追踪自己的运动和睡眠情况，你就可以在查看这些数据的同时看到自己的情绪状况。这样你就可以知道，当你睡得好或锻炼得多的时候，你是否感觉更好。
Real-world use of these apps doesn't always match the aspirational use， researchers have found.
研究人员发现，这些应用程序的实际使用情况与其雄心勃勃的初衷并不相符。
“A lot of mood-tracking tools are built on the idea that people would track their mood at least once a day because they're supposed to identify patterns and triggers，“ says Stephen Schueller， associate professor of psychological science at the University of California， Irvine.
加州大学欧文分校心理学副教授斯蒂芬·舒勒（Stephen Schueller）表示：“许多情绪追踪工具都是建立在这样的理念之上：人们至少会以每天一次的频率追踪自己的情绪，因为他们需要识别情绪的模式规律和触发因子。”
Schueller and his colleagues found that most people really only track their moods a couple of times a week. They also discovered a paradox: While people are drawn to such apps by negative life events—a divorce， a death—they are more inclined to document positive moods.
舒勒和他的同事发现，大多数人实际上追踪情绪的频率是每周只有两三次。他们还发现了一个悖论：吸引人们使用这些应用程序的，通常是像离婚或死亡这类负面人生事件，然而，当他们在进行记录时，却更倾向于记录积极情绪。
Schueller said that while there isn't enough evidence to say definitively that tracking your moods makes you happier， there aren't any downsides—except the few extra minutes a day on your phone.“If it allows you to get a more nuanced picture of your life， why not?“
舒勒说，虽然没有足够的证据可以让我们断言，追踪情绪能让人变得更快乐，但是，它除了会让你每天多花几分钟刷手机以外，也没什么损失。“如果它能让你对自己的生活有更细致入微的了解，为什么不呢？”