Do You Want Stained Fingers, or a Flat Screen TV?
Tell a smoker that they are going to die because of their addiction and they will reach for a cigarette; Tell them that they could afford a 42” flat screen TV in less than 2 months if they quit, and they might not.
Tús Nua Designs, a mobile app development business based in Foxford, Co. Mayo, have developed the myQuitTime app, an iPhone app that helps smokers to quit, and remain successful non smokers, through incentive and inspiration.
All smokers know that they should stop, they know about the damage to their health, they know about the impact that their addiction has on their loved ones, and they know it is costing them a fortune; these are the messages that they are almost constantly bombarded with, and it is knowledge that smokers have become so familiar with that they have learnt to ignore the facts, to push the information to the back of their mind and not let it affect them too much.
Knowing all of this information doesn’t actually help the smoker quit. The negative messages provide the stress that smokers believe is relieved by smoking, and keeps them trapped in a cycle that they can’t escape.
It’s time for a change in the approach. Rather than focussing on the negative impact of smoking, lets focus on the positives of quitting.
The myQuitTime app provides incentive by allowing the user to create a shopping list, including images, of the things that they want to spend their smoking money on instead of cigarettes, and informs the user how long they have to wait until they can buy each item. As every minute passes, the app updates the information so that the user can see their reward(s) for quitting smoking getting closer and closer.
In addition to the shopping list incentive, the myQuitTime app also provides inspiration to the user by showing them the positive impact of how their health and wellbeing is improving since they quit smoking, from as early as 20 minutes after putting out the last cigarette through to the positive health benefits achieved after 15 years of being a successful non smoker. Inspiration is also provided through the display of positive messages whenever the user presses the “Big Red Help” button. There are some messages included in the app, but the user, or the user’s friends and family, can add their own inspirational messages to help and support the user in their quest to be a successful non smoker.
There are many other features that keep the user focused on their success, but the key is that it all about the positive benefits.
Debi Harper, Sales & Marketing Director for Tús Nua Designs said “There are many approaches to stopping smoking, from pure will power to nicotine replacement therapies, but nothing that gives the new non-smoker the positive encouragement, inspiration and incentives. We have seen fantastic results with myQuitTime so far and people are seeing the benefit of our approach.”
In addition to the myQuitTime app, Tús Nua Designs have also set up a support network on various social media outlets, Facebook, Twitter, and Google+. If you need encouragement, or you want to help support other new non-smokers, come along and join in.
Facebook : http://facebook.com/myQuitTime
Twitter : http://twitter.com/myQuitTime or use the #myQuitTime hash tag.
Google+ : http://gplus.to/myQuitTime