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> At one point, the psychologists thought of designing a mobile app, a sort of electronic nagging mother, to help people break bad social habits. (You’d check a

by zupatol 13y ago

> At one point, the psychologists thought of designing a mobile app, a sort of electronic nagging mother, to help people break bad social habits. (You’d check an item off the list, say, if you remembered to talk to anyone that day—a store clerk or a librarian.) But they didn’t get funding for the software, so now they’re focusing on a simpler and more low-tech fix. This mobile app sounds like something that would be really easy to write.

Fishkins 13y ago
Even easier, they could probably just provide a list of items to enter in an existing todo/calendar app.
Killah911 13y ago
Some of us should probably reach out to them. It does sound like a fairly straight forward app. Might even be a good hackathon project or fun size project which doesn't necessarily need to have monetary rewards.
- hosh 13y ago
  Then reach out. This is not solvable with technology.
dreeves 13y ago
There are a lot of apps that could be used this way. I think http://lift.do http://lift.do might work well for this. And I know of people using our own http://beeminder.com http://beeminder.com for things like this.
- breakupapp 13y ago
  This is helpful.
simantel 13y ago
Isn't this exactly what Lift does?
nodata 13y ago
I think Glenda can do recurring todo lists.
vijayr 13y ago
This will only help so much - it'll soon become a chore/annoyance, as it would become more of "checking the box" than actually "connecting with people". This is a problem that can't solved by tech, mobile app etc (tech can only help a bit). I'm not sure simply "talking with store clerk" will help loneliness. If that is the case, talking to our bosses and other colleagues (who really don't care too much about anyone other than themselves - in many cases) should help, but we know it doesn't. Also, we don't need a mobile app for this - just setting up a reminder on the calendar we use, should be more than enough. As one grows older, making friends (and genuine connections) becomes more and more difficult. That is a problem worth solving.
- jessedhillon 13y ago
  I don't know that you can so easily dismiss other people as not being able to help. I have kept a journal for a while of my mood correlated with how many people I talk to. Granted n=1 and totally lacking rigor, the results for me indicate very easily that even simply asking "how are you" to the person who makes my lunch has a large impact. I have made some quite close friends of the people who I interact with daily -- coworkers, baristas, cashiers etc. In my experience the depth of intimacy available to you depends on how much you're willing to risk. If you reveal yourself first, other people feel more comfortable following your lead. What you wrote about how relations with others can be expected to be shallow is, IMO, what the article talks about when the researcher says that you have to suspend the beliefs and assumptions you make when approaching other people.
  - vijayr 13y ago
    I'm not dismissing other people. I'm simply trying to say that talking to other people, just for the "sake of talking" doesn't help much. 10 minutes with people who we love and care about (and vice versa) is not the same as 10 minutes with a random person. That is why people feel lonely at parties, even though they are surrounded by dozens and dozens of people. Of course, it might very well happen that that 10 mins with a random person might turn into a life long friendship - which would be awesome. Perhaps it is worth trying it a few times (like Jim Carey from the move "Yes man") and see where it takes. All I am trying to say is - talking to a person just to tick a box on an app, won't help (either of the parties). Being genuinely interested will. And this is not a problem that can be solved by tech. If anything, tech makes it easier to disconnect, rather than connect. It is much easier to spend 6 hours watching 3 movies on netflix on a sunday, back to back, than going out and actually talking to someone.
fyi80 13y ago
It's already done: https://quantifiedself.appspot.com/ https://quantifiedself.appspot.com/ (but could be greatly improved.)
luminarious 13y ago
I'm a fan of HabitRPG[1], been using it since the very first public version. It allows you set both positive and negative habits which you then track daily. Mobile app is coming soon, I hear. [1] http://habitrpg.com http://habitrpg.com

by zupatol 13y ago

Fishkins 13y ago

Even easier, they could probably just provide a list of items to enter in an existing todo/calendar app.

Killah911 13y ago

Some of us should probably reach out to them. It does sound like a fairly straight forward app. Might even be a good hackathon project or fun size project which doesn't necessarily need to have monetary rewards.

hosh 13y ago
Then reach out. This is not solvable with technology.

dreeves 13y ago

There are a lot of apps that could be used this way. I think http://lift.do http://lift.do might work well for this. And I know of people using our own http://beeminder.com http://beeminder.com for things like this.

breakupapp 13y ago
This is helpful.

simantel 13y ago

Isn't this exactly what Lift does?

nodata 13y ago

I think Glenda can do recurring todo lists.

vijayr 13y ago

This will only help so much - it'll soon become a chore/annoyance, as it would become more of "checking the box" than actually "connecting with people". This is a problem that can't solved by tech, mobile app etc (tech can only help a bit). I'm not sure simply "talking with store clerk" will help loneliness. If that is the case, talking to our bosses and other colleagues (who really don't care too much about anyone other than themselves - in many cases) should help, but we know it doesn't. Also, we don't need a mobile app for this - just setting up a reminder on the calendar we use, should be more than enough. As one grows older, making friends (and genuine connections) becomes more and more difficult. That is a problem worth solving.

jessedhillon 13y ago
I don't know that you can so easily dismiss other people as not being able to help. I have kept a journal for a while of my mood correlated with how many people I talk to. Granted n=1 and totally lacking rigor, the results for me indicate very easily that even simply asking "how are you" to the person who makes my lunch has a large impact. I have made some quite close friends of the people who I interact with daily -- coworkers, baristas, cashiers etc. In my experience the depth of intimacy available to you depends on how much you're willing to risk. If you reveal yourself first, other people feel more comfortable following your lead. What you wrote about how relations with others can be expected to be shallow is, IMO, what the article talks about when the researcher says that you have to suspend the beliefs and assumptions you make when approaching other people.
- vijayr 13y ago
  I'm not dismissing other people. I'm simply trying to say that talking to other people, just for the "sake of talking" doesn't help much. 10 minutes with people who we love and care about (and vice versa) is not the same as 10 minutes with a random person. That is why people feel lonely at parties, even though they are surrounded by dozens and dozens of people. Of course, it might very well happen that that 10 mins with a random person might turn into a life long friendship - which would be awesome. Perhaps it is worth trying it a few times (like Jim Carey from the move "Yes man") and see where it takes. All I am trying to say is - talking to a person just to tick a box on an app, won't help (either of the parties). Being genuinely interested will. And this is not a problem that can be solved by tech. If anything, tech makes it easier to disconnect, rather than connect. It is much easier to spend 6 hours watching 3 movies on netflix on a sunday, back to back, than going out and actually talking to someone.

fyi80 13y ago

It's already done: https://quantifiedself.appspot.com/ https://quantifiedself.appspot.com/ (but could be greatly improved.)

luminarious 13y ago

I'm a fan of HabitRPG[1], been using it since the very first public version. It allows you set both positive and negative habits which you then track daily. Mobile app is coming soon, I hear. [1] http://habitrpg.com http://habitrpg.com