Want to kick the smoking habit? Text messages can help.
- By Donald White
- Jun 30, 2011
Peer pressure may lead people to start smoking, but now technology is allowing social support for cell phone users who want to quit,
ScienceDaily reports.
A trial program called txt2stop studied the effect that supportive text messages had on smokers who wanted to kick the habit. The study, led by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and funded by the Medical Research Council, found that people who received the periodic stop-smoking texts were more likely to stop than smokers in a control group.
This isn't the first evidence we've seen of the power of positive social support on smoking cessation. A 2008 study by researchers from Harvard Medical School and the University of California, San Diego, found that people tend to quit smoking in groups.
According to a story in the New York Times, the researchers said one person's decision to stop smoking could have a ripple effect on the smoking habits of that person's entire social network.
About the Author
Donald White is an assistant managing editor with 1105 Government Information Group.