Google is working on a new Gmail feature in Google Labs that allows the user to better protect themselves from sending emails that they may later regret sending. The feature is called “Mail Goggles”, and seems to be aimed at people who have too much to drink on the weekends and send out drunken emails that when they wake up the next day and wish they hadn’t sent.
So What Does it Do Exactly?
Mail Goggles will bring up a set of math problems on a time limit once you hit the send button on your email. The theory behind this is that if you’re too drunk to solve the problems, you shouldn’t be sending email. Of course the announcement on the Gmail Blog never comes right out and says anything about drinking, but says the tool is to “verify you’re in the right state of mind.”
Mail Goggles defaults to activate late at night on the weekends when “you’re most likely to need it,” although you can adjust the settings to make it work to suit your own drinking schedule.
Let’s now be realistic for a minute. Most drunks are pretty stubborn, and stubborn usually means determined, so if you are determined to send an email while not in your “right state of mind”, and you’re alert enough to write an email, you’re probably also alert enough to use your computer’s calculator if you have trouble with the math. It’s a good concept, but perhaps not as effective as an AA meeting.
