Do Something Different: How technology can change behaviour
A talk given by Professor Karen Pine of Do Something Different at the Drink Aware seminar entitled, Can Technology Really Change Behaviour. Karen shows how Do Something Different is making great strides in this area and also warns of the traps inherent in taking behaviour change into the digital sphere. 1. Technology must not become another means of transmitting information. Too many traditional behaviour change approaches have been predicated on the ‘information deficit model’. This assumes that people lack knowledge (e.g. about how to live a healthy life). And that if we simply educate them about healthy living they will act in their own best interests. But the human brain is a habit machine. And knowing what to do is no guarantee that people will do it. So we must avoid using technology simply to impart more information, but in a jazzier, prettier, more interactive way. Technology must be used to address what people DO, not what they KNOW. That’s what Do Something Different does. It changes people through small positive actions. It assumes they already have a good idea of what they should do, but they just need help doing it. 2. Technology can personalise behaviour change Behaviour change is more likely to result from an intervention that the individual feels is relevant and personal to them. The diagnostics we use at Do Something Different mean a person can input their personal details online. Then our system rapidly creates a bespoke programme for them that’s delivered over the following few weeks. With our sophisticated technology behaviour change no longer has to be a ‘one size fits all’ approach. And each Do-er also has a personal Do Zone to record and share their change journey. 3. Technology can make behaviour change interventions more timely. The best time to remind a person to change is when they are in ‘doing’ mode, not in ‘thinking’ mode. Most people intend to lead a healthier life when leaving the GP’s surgery with the doctor’s warnings still ringing in their ears. But it’s when they’re back home and reaching for the booze or the burger that an intervention needs to strike. On a Do Something Different programme their Do’s arrive regularly via text or email. So, long after the person has forgotten about the health warnings or their good intentions, a Do pops up as a timely reminder. And it’s always something small that will be fun to do. Because people change when they’re having fun. They change through small positive actions. It all adds up. That’s why we change behaviour one Do at a time, using the best technology around.
Recommended
Recommended
More Related Content
Recently uploaded
Recently uploaded (20)
Featured
Featured (20)
Do Something Different: How technology can change behaviour
- 1. Small change, big difference: How Do Something Different digital technology moves people towards better ways of living and working Professor Karen Pine @karenpine
- 2. Let’s look at: • How technology can bridge the knowing-doing gap • Why we must avoid the technology trap aka ‘we don’t need no (more) education • Three conditions for technology to change behaviour
- 3. Behaviour change has been dominated by the information deficit model: People lack knowledge about how to live a healthy life… So if we educate them about health…. They will naturally act in their own best interests.
- 4. Behaviour change needs to recognise the Knowing-Doing Gap
- 5. We don’t need no (more) education!
- 6. The fear factor isn’t working!
- 7. The technology trap • We must avoid technology becoming another way of presenting yet more information (in a jazzier, interactive way). Changing behaviour • Technology must be used tackle what people DO - not try and change what they KNOW (they already know it anyway).
- 9. At Do Something Different we tackle the Doing part…. • People try new behaviours • They do different things • They break unhealthy habits • Do’s arrive by text or email, interrupting their routines and disrupting their automaticity • The Do’s are tailored to the individual. • Programmes tackle a range of issues, run for 4-6 weeks
- 10. For the Do-er it’s a simple process…
- 11. • Insert video here Do 4_What happens next • To start ON CLICK
- 12. The technology is far from simple… The Do system crunches all the answers… …spots where the person needs to Do Something Different …and populates their programme with appropriate Dos…delivered by text and/or email
- 13. Technology enables personalisation of programmes Q. How often do you…. Make an effort to do things for others? …. one act of kindness today. A. Never/a little E.g. offer to help someone, make a busy person a cuppa or leave a random gift somewhere at home.
- 14. • Some Do’s are sent to everyone on the programme. That’s because they help break habits and are fun to do … Shift Your Butt Day Today don't sit anywhere you would normally sit. Move to a different spot at the dining table or when watching TV. All Do’s are based on our research and created by the founding Professors behind Do Something Different: Profs Pine & Fletcher.
- 15. Technology also enables Do-ers to log and share what they do differently: The Do Zone They record each Do they have completed Do-ers log their progress In their personal Do Zone And they rate each Do …and leave feedback
- 16. The Do-Zone Where Do-ers can: • see exactly what they’ve done • go back and revisit any Do’s they missed • share
- 17. 3 conditions for technology to change behaviour The intervention must be: 1 ACTION-BASED 2. PERSONALISED 3. TIMELY Giving people things to DO, not things to KNOW. FUN. Individually-tailored to tackle the person’s habits. Bespoke and relevant. Disruptive. Delivered when needed, not reliant on the person ‘remembering’.
- 18. Measuring change • Technology allows us to measure change effectively • On a Do Something Different programme Do-ers complete before and after diagnostics • More than ever before we can accurately measure the impact of what we do – and we see how we are really changing behaviour.
Editor's Notes
- How many of you…KNOW about the benefits of exercise? Exercise regularly?KNOW about the health risks from too much alcohol? Occasionally over-indulge?KNOW about the risks of smoking? Smoke?KNOW how many fruit and veg you should consume daily? Get your 5 a day?You have just demonstrated the KNOWING_DOING GAP.A lot of behaviour change is based on the Information Deficit Hypothesis…
- There’s enough information out there already. People are not acting on the advice they are given.The knowledge is not transferring into behaviour, not being implemented.
- Frightening people doesn’t make them change either. It just makes them cognitively defensive.
- Technology mustn’t just be another way of presenting information or imparting knowledge.The app mustn’t become the new ‘leaflet’.Too many traditional behaviour change approaches have been predicated on the ‘information deficit model’. This assumes that people lack knowledge (e.g. about how to live a healthy life). And that if we simply educate them about healthy living they will act in their own best interests. But the human brain is a habit machine. And knowing what to do is no guarantee that people will do it. So we must avoid using technology simply to impart more information, but in a jazzier, prettier, more interactive way. Technology must be used to address what people DO, not what they KNOW. That’s what Do Something Different does. It changes people through small positive actions. It assumes they already have a good idea of what they should do, but they just need help doing it.
- Most people don’t apply what they know. Their days are repetitive and habitual. It is the entrenched nature of people’s pre-existing lifestylehabits that renders them resistant to change. Although a minority ofpeople will heed health advice and change their behaviour because itis good for them, others will have the intention to change, andunderstand the need to change, but will nonetheless persist with theirpre-existing behaviours.
- Technology can interrupt their habits – it can work on the DOING part of the brain….At Do something different our programmes are designed to get people trying new things – they are not trying to educate or inform the individual.By doing things differently people reshape their own environment so they are less likely to persist with their unhealthy habits (many of which are held in place by environmental cues and triggers)By sending people’s Do’s by text or email they don’t have to remember to open their app, we catch them when they are in doing modeTechnology also enables us to persoanlise the Do’s, make sure they are appropriate to the individual, and thus ave more chance of being effective.
- Insert video here Do 4_What happens nextTo start ON CLICK
- SCALEABILITY – this means we can have thousands of people on a programme, each doing their own individualised version of it.
- The diagnostic process consists of s whole set of questions to find out where the person is now, and what they already do.Depending on how the person answers each question during the diagnostic process, the Do will be relevant to what they need to do differently to get a better outcome. It can remind them to do different things.
- Every programme is different, but comprises some personalised Do’s – specific to the Do-er and based on their answers to the diagnostic questionsOthers are general and go to everyone on the programme, so people can have fun sharing and comparing what they did differently.ARRIVES IN A TIMELY MANNER TO DISRUPT THE PERSON’S AUTOMATICITY.
- Technology allows for sharing
- Technology makes sharing easier.
- Behaviour change is more likely to result from an intervention that the individual feel is relevant and personal to them. The diagnostics we use at Do Something Different mean a person can input their personal details online. Then our system rapidly creates a bespoke programme for them that’s delivered over the following few weeks. With our sophisticated technology behaviour change no longer has to be a ‘one size fits all’ approach. And each Do-er has a personal Do Zone to record and share their change journey.The best time to remind a person to change is when they are in ‘doing’ mode, not in ‘ thinking’ mode. Most people intend to lead a healthier life when leaving the GP’s surgery with the doctor’s warnings still ringing in their ears. But it’s when they’re back home and reaching for the booze or the burger that an intervention needs to strike. On a Do Something Different programme their Do’s arrive regularly via text or email. So, long after the person has forgotten about the health warnings or their good intentions, a Do pops up as a timely reminder. And it’s always something small that will be fun to do. Because people change when they’re having fun. They change through small positive actions. It all adds up. That’s why we change behaviour one Do at a time, using the best technology around.
- Pre-Do diagnostics – data into the systemPost-Do repeat – change is calculated