What if mobile technology could encourage a sunscreen habit? Safe Ears uses text messaging to facilitate healthy behavior change by applying the principles of the Fogg Behavior Model.

1. Safe Ears: What if mobile tech could encourage a sunscreen habit? Andrew Hershberger Stanford University http://habits.stanford.edu

7. What about habits? Green: Applied sunscreen to ears Red: Did not apply sunscreen Participants 1, 2, and 4 said they want to make sunscreen a habit. With the help of Safe Ears, participants 2 and 4 made incredible progress, moving from 0 to 3.5 and from 1 to 6.3 applications per week! The Fogg Behavior Grid argues that one step on the way to a long-term habit is just performing the behavior the first time. Another step is performing the behavior regularly for a finite length of time. This means that participants 2 and 4 have moved at least one step closer to forming a habit. See http://behaviorgrid.org for more info. Andrew Hershberger Stanford University