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.

Featured

  • Records management: Look beyond the NARA mandates

    Pandemic tests electronic records management

    Between the rush enable more virtual collaboration, stalled digitization of archived records and managing records that reside in datasets, records management executives are sorting through new challenges.

  • boy learning at home (Travelpixs/Shutterstock.com)

    Tucson’s community wireless bridges the digital divide

    The city built cell sites at government-owned facilities such as fire departments and libraries that were already connected to Tucson’s existing fiber backbone.

Stay Connected