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A Shocking Way (Really) to Break Bad Habits
- maneesh 10y agoThis article is from earlier this year, but admin @dang mentioned that I should repost it, with a link to the comment thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13266386 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13266386 I'm the founder of Pavlok, and we've helped thousands of people quit their bad habits and wake up earlier. Our company has a strict metric of 'habits over money' --- so I'm happy to help anyone with their behavior change goals. Hacker News has been a big part of my life, so I would be honored to help anyone here with their goals in habit change. What are your goals / New Year's Resolutions?
- SCdF 10y agoIt would be great if you didn't post this with a click bait title. It might be stupid, but on principle I'm not going to read it.
- bcpermafrost 10y agohow is this click bait? its not sensationalist in anyway what so ever.
- whowalrus 10y agoCan you help me see how the title is clickbait?
- DrScump 10y agoHe used the published title and, given the content, it isn't as clickbaity as it appears (electric shock is the mechanism discussed).
- unclebucknasty 10y agoHi. Probably your biggest question, but here goes: does the voluntary nature of it impact results? In other words, don't you need the discipline to self-administer the shocks? And, if you have that discipline, then why can't you just use it to stop the behavior?
- actuallyalys 10y agoI think the answer is in the article: >“It’s not designed to be painful,” he added. “It’s instantaneous, a surprise sensation, a shock that knocks you out of automatic mode.” If something is completely a habit, your self-discipline doesn't really have an opportunity to engage.
- 0xdeadbeefbabe 10y agoBut how do you form the habit of shocking yourself when you behave in a way your self-discipline doesn't have an opportunity to engage?
- unclebucknasty 10y agoExactly. But it seems our gracious host has disappeared. On the plus side, if you order now, you'll get a bonus Pavlok free. Just pay shipping and handling.
- maneesh 10y agoWe have a 5-day aversion course that you follow. The first three days are about awareness (tracking triggers, mindfulness, etc). The following days, you follow the program for 5 minutes, where you turn on the zap (manually or autozapper) while you do the behavior. It's the same principle as when you over indulge on tequila, and suddenly the smell of the beverage makes you cringe. For our users, they feel the same way towards foods and candies --- the sight/smell of it becomes an aversion.
- 0xdeadbeefbabe 10y ago> “Every time I took a bite, I zapped myself,” she said. “I did it five times on the first night, two times on the second night, and by the third day I didn’t have any cravings anymore.” Really? Why is this better than inflicting other kinds of pain on yourself like flicking a rubber band, or pricking your finger? Where do you get motivation to even zap yourself at all?
- vorotato 10y agoIf you ever have tried to quit smoking, there is a strong motivation. That being said I found this archaic technique useless. My brain realized it could "buy" the smokes for pain, and just factored in the cost along with the other costs.
- revicon 10y agoIm interested in forming a good habit instead (remembering to log all my meals on my fitness pal). There isn't a "bad" behavior to trigger one of these zaps, unless you count hitting the end of the day without meals logged or something like that, but that feels too far removed to have the necessary subliminal effect.
- dakrootie 10y agoHe hired a woman to smack him? I would've done it for free.
- maneesh 10y agoI'll hire you!
- peddamat 10y agoI believe I remember a similar product on Shark Tank. From memory, I believe it was an unfortunate pitch. What differentiates this product?
- grzm 10y agoIt's the same product: https://buy.pavlok.com/pages/saw-us-on-shark-tank https://buy.pavlok.com/pages/saw-us-on-shark-tank