Maybe this will wake you up. It did me when I read it.
"The world’s nastiest alarm clock — an app to zap you out of bed in the morning."
I usually wake up on my own -- a little after six in a cold sweat screaming "Globe!" before heading out to get one -- but what was wrong with "eeeeeeeeeeeeehhhhhhhh," or "beep, beep, beep, beep, beep."
Heck, they even have ones that will play music.
"Shocking news: Pavlok, the wristband that zaps bad habits, sort of works" by Hiawatha Bray
Globe Staff, 12 hours ago
So I hit the snooze, so what?!!
Pavlok was founded by Maneesh Sethi, a Stanford University graduate in psychology with a fondness for aversive therapy — the reshaping of behavior through punishment.
Hasn't seemed to work with me and my morning ma$ochi$m, if you know what I mean.
A few years back, Sethi hired a woman to slap him whenever he spent too much time on Facebook. He got an amusing YouTube video out of the experience, as well as the Pavlok concept.
Pavlok costs $199 on Amazon.com or $169 direct from the company. It’s a metallic cube that snaps into a rubber wrist strap. Fully charged, it delivers up to 200 shocks. Pavlok can hit you with up to 340 volts, but at a power level so low it’s harmless.
Next, you download an app for Apple iOS or Android smartphones and use the Pavlok’s Bluetooth chip to link it with your phone. On command, Pavlok reminds you by either emitting a beeping sound, vibrating, or delivering a nasty little shock. The iPhone app never worked properly for me, but the Android version did the job. The app lets you adjust the shock intensity from a mild tickle to a more noticeable pop that’s almost painful.
Let's hope your phone isn't hacked.
Sethi is creating apps to shock users automatically. He’s already adapted the bracelet to become the world’s nastiest alarm clock — an app to zap you out of bed in the morning. You just wear it to bed. At the appropriate time, your Bluetooth-connected phone orders Pavlok to start shocking you. The company is working on a feature to shock you for logging onto Facebook. It’s cheaper than hiring somebody to slap you.
Ever here of a thing called self-control?
But for now, Pavlok is a manual operation. You decide what bad habit you want to break, and when you find yourself doing it, you give yourself a jolt — either with the smartphone app or by pressing down on the wristband.
You know, now that the Globe has stopped delivering....
It’s worked for me. But I rarely zapped myself, because I rarely had to....
Well, that should Quell any concern, huh?
And into a Brave New World we go, 'eh?
--more--"
Would you care to step on the scale?
I, too, find myself asking where all these clippings came from.
Maybe I need a different wake-up call.
Time to go back to sleep. In a bad mood now.
