Introduction
In today’s fast-paced world, the institution of the family is facing unprecedented challenges. The rapid advancement of technology has both united and divided families, often leading to a decrease in meaningful interactions and an increase in technology-induced damages. Social media, for instance, can create unrealistic expectations and promote comparison, while excessive screen time can reduce face-to-face communication. Moreover, a concerning trend has emerged: a growing number of young people are struggling with mental health issues, leading to a tragic rise in suicides among this age group. Recognizing these challenges, we decided to harness technology as a tool to mitigate its negative impacts and address this critical issue.
Our journey began with the development of a simple app that provided basic feedback mechanisms, aiming to help families reconnect and strengthen their bonds. However, as we delved deeper into the complexities of family dynamics and the mental health challenges, we realized the need for a more comprehensive approach. Over time, we iterated and expanded our app to offer more complex and detailed interactions. This evolution was driven by user feedback and the need to address the multifaceted nature of family dynamics. As technology evolved, we incorporated Artificial Intelligence (AI) into our app to provide more comprehensive feedback and enhance sensitivity. This integration marked a significant milestone in our development process, allowing us to offer personalized insights and support tailored to individual family needs.
In today’s rapidly changing world, families face unprecedented challenges: from social isolation and anxiety to difficulty in maintaining meaningful communication. Im2be, developed by Intelligent Technologies S.A., addresses these modern dilemmas by fostering enhanced family interaction, personal growth, and emotional resilience through an intuitive and gamified digital platform. Families today navigate an environment reshaped by technology and global uncertainties, contributing to increased mental health issues among young people. Addressing this, Im2be leverages sophisticated AI to create supportive, insightful interactions within families, promoting healthier dynamics and personal growth.
However, our journey is far from over. With the advent of sophisticated AI, we aim to explore more complex scenarios, delving into neuropsychological mechanisms to deconstruct them. This deconstruction will enable us to move beyond educated guesses and uncover the core of behavioral issues, facilitating a more conscious and empathetic handling of user behaviors. By understanding the underlying psychological factors influencing family interactions, we can develop more effective strategies for improving communication and relationships, ultimately helping to reduce the risk of mental health crises among young people.
Mobile Application (iOS & Android)
The Im2be application is built upon a foundation of concepts derived from multiple scientific sources and the experiences of seasoned psychologists. It is designed to be both intuitive and user-friendly, incorporating a range of features that serve specific purposes.
Im2be application feature list
Family Circle Interaction: enables interaction within family members through a dedicated, secure space, allowing management and visualization of relationships and activities.
Gamification and Rewards: points and rewards to encourage active participation and enhance user engagement within the family circle.
Family Task Management: Task Assignment & Task Tracking, Personal Goals, facilitates the creation, assignment, and monitoring of family tasks and individual goals, aiding users in building personal responsibility and habits.
Chats: Secure, family-oriented messaging functionality, promoting seamless communication and interaction among family members.
AI-Powered Coaching:
Flow Coach (AI Integration): AI-driven assistant providing personalized real-time coaching, behavioral insights, and recommendations to support emotional intelligence, stress management, and improved family communication.
Sentiment Analysis (AI Integration): AI capability to analyze emotional states and sentiments from user interactions, ensuring feedback is contextually appropriate, empathetic, and supportive.
Phase 2 (Coming soon features & future improvements)
Behavioral Insights & Recommendations (AI Integration): Advanced AI analytics that detect, interpret, and respond to complex user behaviors, providing deeper personalized insights and targeted advice to improve personal and family dynamics.
Interactive Goals & Tasks Recommendations (AI Integration): AI-driven recommendations that dynamically suggest personalized tasks and goals tailored to the user’s profile, historical data, and family needs to promote meaningful engagement and habit formation.
Banking as a Service: White-label financial integration allowing secure account creation, transactions, and debit card management for children (parent-controlled), educating families about financial responsibility through practical experience and incentives.
Challenges: Structured challenges designed to encourage personal growth, achievement, and engagement among family members, fostering collaboration and friendly competition.
Interactive Diary: Enhanced journaling feature enabling users to record thoughts, moods, set and track goals, and include multimedia elements (photos/videos), promoting self-reflection and emotional awareness.
Group Tasks: Collaborative task feature that promotes teamwork and joint goal achievement among family members, enhancing family cohesion and collective responsibility.
Infrastructure
Our app is built on a robust, cloud-based infrastructure that ensures scalability, flexibility, and resilience. Key features of this infrastructure include:
Mobile app (iOS/Android): Cross-platform mobile app, enabling consistent experiences on both iOS and Android devices.
Identity Provider (Authorization & Authentication): Handles authentication (user login and verification) and authorization (permissions and roles management), ensuring secure user access.
API Gateway: Central point of entry for mobile app requests, managing API traffic, enforcing security policies, routing requests, and providing a unified interface to microservices.
Data Transformer: Transforms and maps data formats between the mobile app and backend services for seamless integration.
Data Provider: Retrieves, processes, and delivers requested data from the database, ensuring efficient data access and management.
Persistence & Data Encryption: Manages data storage, ensuring that all user and transactional data is securely stored with appropriate encryption for privacy and compliance.
Im2be Database: Central database storing all application data (user information, interactions, configurations, tasks, etc.), emphasizing secure and efficient data storage.
Logging & Monitoring: Infrastructure component providing real-time insights, logs, and alerts, helping maintain application reliability, availability, and performance.
AI Affinity Engine: AI-driven component providing personalized interactions, sentiment analysis, and personalized intelligent coaching.
Microsoft Azure Cloud: Provides a scalable, reliable, and secure cloud environment hosting all application infrastructure components.
- Microservices Architecture: Ensures scalability, flexibility, and resilience, allowing independent service updates without disrupting overall functionality.
- Cloud-based Deployment: Utilizes load balancing, redundancy, and robust encryption to manage high traffic volumes securely and reliably.
Additionally, our infrastructure is designed to be fault-tolerant and resilient, ensuring that the app can manage a high volume of users and tasks without interruptions. We use load balancing and redundancy to distribute traffic across multiple servers, preventing any single point of failure. This means that even if one server experiences issues, others can take over seamlessly, maintaining service continuity. Security is a top priority, with measures in place to safeguard user data and ensure seamless operation even under heavy usage. We implement robust encryption protocols to protect user information both in transit and at rest. Additionally, our system is regularly updated with the latest security patches to prevent vulnerabilities.
User Experience
Im2be offers users intuitive, gamified interactions and engaging visual interfaces like dynamic Halos and Bonds, visually representing family relationships and emotional connections. The journaling system and bidirectional task management foster reflective personal growth and active family participation. By integrating these features, we aim to foster a more harmonious and supportive family environment.
Conclusion
In conclusion, our app represents a comprehensive approach to addressing the challenges faced by modern families, with a special focus on supporting young people struggling with mental health issues. By leveraging AI and a robust infrastructure, we aim to provide a platform that not only helps users understand and manage their behaviors but also fosters a more empathetic and supportive family environment. As technology continues to evolve, we remain committed to exploring new possibilities and enhancing our app to meet the changing needs of families worldwide. Our vision is to create a tool that empowers families to navigate the complexities of modern life while strengthening their bonds. By combining cutting-edge technology with insights from psychology, we believe we can make a meaningful difference in the lives of our users.
Future Directions
Looking ahead, our ambition is to delve deeper into neuropsychological mechanisms, using AI to uncover the underlying causes of behavioral issues. This will enable us to develop more targeted interventions and support systems, ultimately contributing to healthier family dynamics. By continuously updating and refining our app, we aim to stay at the forefront of technological innovation while addressing the evolving needs of families in the digital age. One of our future goals is to integrate more advanced AI models that can analyze complex behavioral patterns and provide predictive insights. This could involve using machine learning algorithms to identify early warning signs of potential issues, allowing families to take proactive steps to address them before they escalate. Additionally, we plan to incorporate predictive analytics for early intervention and expanded capabilities to address post-crisis scenarios, further strengthening its impact on family wellbeing. Im2be positions itself not just as an application but as a lifelong companion dedicated to nurturing stronger families and healthier individuals.
