SAN FRANCISCO, Nov 28 — While parents have plenty of tools to restrict their child’s access to the Internet or social media, a new San Francisco-based startup is offering a way to gauge their emotional health based on online activity.

Mevoked tracks children’s web activity and sends regular wellness reports to parents, to help spot risky behaviour or decipher what’s really going on with a moody teenager. In addition to receiving a general assessment of a child’s general state of mind, parents can view analytics histories by day or week, with content breakdown, such as whether or not a teen is reading about suicide or visiting sites with violent material. Parents can also receive a list of all URLs.

According to the company, Mevoked (a play on “Me” and “evoked”) is the culmination of research in the spheres of psychology, social behaviour, and technology, and its behavioural analytics platform has already undergone beta testing. Unlike parental controls which block content, Mevoked says it aims to create an environment where parents can be alerted to signs of depression or other problems, with the goal being to serve as an early warning system and “create a positive reinforcement loop” keeping parents in the know.

“Mental health is one of the most neglected areas of health care, and especially youth mental health, [which] is extremely neglected,” Mevoked founder and CEO Arun Ravi told tech blog VentureBeat. “We’re trying to use big data for actual insight.”

Pricing starts at US$5 (RM16.20) a month for a basic plan with Chrome extension, while full service for a year, with email alerts, is US$89 (RM288).

Mevoked.com — AFP-Relaxnews