The town of Stoke-on-Trent in the UK is piloting an obesity awareness texting program. This town government program will send daily motivational texts to its overweight/obese subscribers. The city council concludes that this preventative program, which cost about 10,000 Euros, is a cheaper alternative to the medical bills relating to obesity that will be incurred in the future. Click here to read the full article.
As strange as this idea may sound I think this will be extremely helpful in the long run. Think of how tempting it is when you walk pass a Subways or McDonalds and you smell the freshly baked bread or cheeseburgers. Before you mindlessly walk into the store, you suddenly receive a text that says “2 more months until summer, is your beach body ready?” How powerful would that be?!
The other side of the argument is the practicality and motivational factor. One gentleman from the BBC article summarized the idea of the text messages perfectly by saying, “I don’t know whether it would feel like nagging, though. I’ve already got my wife to do that.”
Do you think this method is useful? If it’s not, how else should the town government spend the 10,000 Euros budget?
Since obesity is a growing issue, I also think it’s a good idea. We won’t know the effectiveness until we see change. I’d love to get a text like that! It’s like a person in your phone that is constantly motivating you to not choose the unhealthy food because you want to look good in the summer. It might only be effective towards people who actually care a lot about their health or physical appearance though.