Have you ever attempted to change aspects of your life only to fall back into old habits and patterns? It’s a serious concern, but do not worry, most people struggle with it. Creating long-term behavioral changes, whether we’re trying to eat better, exercise more, or be more productive at work, can be difficult.
But why is that the case, you might ask. Well, the complexity and often unpredictable nature of human behavior is where the answer lies. A variety of things influence our activities, including our surroundings, social interactions, emotions, and beliefs. To understand behavior change, we must include all of these aspects.
Luckily for us, scholars and practitioners in psychology and sociology have been researching the causes of behavior changes for decades now. They’ve created models and theories that assist us in understanding why we behave the way we do and what we can do to make a change.
One such model is the Transtheoretical Model (TTM), which was established by psychologists James Prochaska and Carlo Diclemente back in the 1980s. It’s one of the most well-known models of behavioral change. According to the paradigm, behavior change is a multi-stage process that unfolds over time. And it branches into five different directions. We have pre-contemplation - when we are not yet contemplating change, followed by contemplation when we do think about change. And here, digital products can help us. Think about those two stages as the time before you want to download a nutrition app. You acknowledge the fact that it can help you and you think how it can do that.
Next, we have to prepare, when we are getting ready to act. That goes into the action phase when we are making changes, followed by the maintenance part, where we are sustaining changes over time. Here, you already have the app and you are receiving notifications and tips on how you can stay on track, helping you achieve your overall goal.
With the help of this model, we can boost our chances of altering our behavior by identifying which stage we are in and what activities we need to do to proceed to the next stage. When you strip it of its academic purpose, it can actually be pretty useful.
And they pull the right strings. We talk of course about habits. They know how to leverage the power that a habit has. By giving cues or reminders, measuring our progress, and rewarding us for positive actions, digital products can assist us in creating healthy habits.
Look at fitness apps, for example. They can push us to exercise regularly by delivering reminders and recording our exercises. Even more so, habit-tracking apps can assist us in developing positive habits by allowing us to establish objectives and monitor our success over time. It’s what you need to try! You know how much it means when you reach an objective. You feel invincible! And you get the motivation to continue that habit.
Ever heard about the concept of gamification? The practice of bringing game design ideas to non-gaming situations such as fitness or education is known as gamification. This way, it can drive us to participate in positive habits and stick with them over time by making them more interesting and engaging.
This practice is used by every app and also by every entertainment technology-related device. Making us feel and realize the involvement and progress. However, it’s our choice of the right apps and devices to help us work towards a healthier lifestyle and leverage this digital innovation.
For a better understanding, take language apps. They succeed at employing gamification. This new technology can drive users to practice consistently and achieve progress toward their language goals by employing incentives, challenges, and social components. The best example here is Duolingo. Just the fact that you can compete with your friends seals the deal - let’s be honest. And it’s a great incentive! If you learn the same language as your friend - you can push each other through the power of competition. Careful not to lean into the toxic side - but if you keep it friendly and exciting - it shouldn’t be a problem.
It’s true - digital products can influence our behavior towards a better life. But we first need to understand our behavior and why we want to change it. If we can do that, we’ll find that digital products are some of the best pals that we can have in this journey.
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