Before Facebook status updates and 24/7 Tweeting, people needed a way to broadcast their feelings to the rest of the world. Thankfully, despite the lack of social media, there was a way to convey this information: the mood ring.
If you’ve never worn a mood ring, you’re probably aware of the concept: put on the ring and it will change color based on shifts in your emotional state. Each color corresponds to a type of feeling, for example, blue indicates calm and purple reflects sensuality, while black denotes stress or depression.
The mood ring first appeared in the super-groovy 1970s. The masterminds behind this first form of mood jewelry were two New Yorkers named Joshua Reynolds and Maris Ambats. According to the Chicago Tribune, Reynolds was stuck in a stressful Wall Street job when he began studying biofeedback. He then devised the ring as a measure to gauge individuals’ emotions to help them meditate and control their anxieties.
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