Could the fun of texting help kids to lose weight? Indirectly, perhaps, but not simply due to the technology or the act of texting itself. A recent study out of the University of North Carolina found that children between the ages of 5 and 13 who used text messaging to record food diaries were almost twice as likely to comply with the program than those who recorded their intake and activities using old-fashioned paper diaries.
The first conclusion drawn from the study is that kids who text their diaries demonstrate higher rates of compliance because texting is fun. People who keep records of their consumption and activities have been shown to lose more weight and to keep it off. “If people enjoy [texting], they’re more likely to do it and more likely to lose weight,” according to study author Jennifer Shapiro.
But is it really just the pure joy of texting that increases compliance? Worth noting is that the children who reported in by text message received an immediate reply about their progress relative to their goals. Pencil-and-paper kids experienced a week of lag time between writing in their diaries and meeting with a nutritionist for feedback on how well they had done.
Seen through the lens of the jobs-to-be-done approach, the success of the texting group may have more to do with the response that participants received from others than with the texting itself. “Jobs” are problems that customers need to solve in their lives for which they hire products or services as solutions. “Feel joy in reporting my food intake” is unlikely to be a job held by many people. However, immediate feedback fulfills important social and emotional jobs such as “Feel responsible” and “Know that someone is paying attention to me.” Flashing a cell phone to send a text message may fulfill jobs such as “Feel cool.” Many of these jobs may be particularly important for children and pre-teens, along with jobs such as “Connect with others like me” or “Fit in.” Insight about these underlying jobs that drive behavior could lead to further innovative efforts to increase compliance with diaries and diets, such as text feedback from peers or information on one’s performance relative to a peer group.
So, texting technology is an enabler of success here. Ultimately, however, the success of a technology in the market or in creating behavior change is driven by the technology’s ability to better meet functional, social, or emotional jobs-to-be-done than existing solutions.