Sleep researchers have discovered that in addition to other activities known to be part of sleepwalkers’ acts emailing is now part of that, says the New York Times. In order to prevent email mishaps attributed to late night mailing, Google has developed so-called “Mail Goggles” to prevent inappropriate mails from flying across the Internet due to drunkenness, anger, or insomnia.
How does it work? NYT says:
“Once a user has turned Mail Goggles on, Gmail pays attention to the time. If a user tries to send a message within designated hours — say, 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights — a window pops up, requiring the solution of five simple math problems within 60 seconds before the message is dispatched. If a user can’t solve one set of problems, a new set is presented, accompanied by messages that gently scold, like “Water and bed for you. Or try again.””
Google is protecting its Gmail users from sending bad mail, and now the sleepwalking can benefit from that protection, too.
Summer Johnson, PhD