The iron being left on, an open window or an unlocked apartment door – all these things can stress us out. FIBARO’s research shows that in people who do not own smart home solutions, the body reacts three times more intensely in response to the emotional strain caused by these situations. Worse, the stress may result in the impairment of cognitive functioning.
FIBARO conducted research which covered two groups of people: those who own smart home solutions and those who do not. The subjects surveyed were analyzed based on their galvanic skin response, which enabled researchers to determine the level of emotional strain; they also had to take a test which measured cognitive functioning.
The first phase of the research was the base measurement. During the next phase, the participants were questioned about the condition of their home security devices, the current situation at their homes, and events such as fires, floodings or burglaries. The base measurement taken before introducing these situations allowed researchers to determine the deviation in stress levels as certain topics came up.
The results showed that simply talking about home security devices increased emotional strain in people who do not use smart home solutions. Among the respondents in the other group, there was no change – stress remained at the same level as it was during a discussion of a neutral topic.
Imagining a dangerous situation, such as a fire or flooding, increased emotional strain in both groups. But among the people not using smart home devices, the reaction to these situations was three times stronger. For issues like the iron being left on or the door left unlocked, the reaction was twice as intense.
The second part of the study (the Stroop test) showed that a stressful situation related to one’s home resulted in a weakened ability to inhibit automatic reactions in people not owning smart home devices.
Our research shows that people who do not own smart home devices experience much greater emotional strain when it comes to situations that threaten their homes. Simultaneously, this strain may lead to the impairment of certain cognitive functions.
– said Tomasz Szczurko, HumanGraph.
“According to Gfk’s analyzes, as many as one in five Poles lives in constant stress. As the study results show, the solutions we create in FIBARO can have a positive impact by decreasing the level of negative stress. The FIBARO system allows users to remotely check the situation at home. It means, for example, that we do not have to come back to check if the doors or windows are properly locked, or think frantically about an iron being left on”, added Krzysztof Banasiak, Vice President of FIBARO.
FIBARO has prepared an illustrative film in which the groups surveyed are classified as Homo Smartus (people owning smart home devices) and Homo Stressus (people not using such technologies). It shows a day in the life of the representatives of each ‘species’ as it presents the results of the research.
The tests were conducted by the HumanGraph agency on two research groups: people using smart home technologies and people not using them. Each research group consisted of 30 people. The research focused on observing emotional strain in participants by measuring their galvanic skin response (with a polygraph) and testing their cognitive functions in response to hypothetical situations dangerous to their homes.
More information about the company and its products is available at www.fibaro.com