There's an app for that

In this day and age there seems to be a ‘fix it’ solution for any beauty problem – whether it’s acne, crows feet, grey hair or lips that aren’t quite plump enough. An obsession with unrealistic beauty stands and celebrity culture has led us to believe we’re not up to standard.

While the temptation to stray down the path of plastic surgery may be omnipresent, there are ways to make the most of our natural assets without surgical intervention.

App technology has become the catalyst for a new legion of devotees making real change in their approach to health, fitness and numerous other ways to embrace wellbeing.

This may seem like contradictory information, given addiction to our smartphones and computers have been blamed as the culprit for declining well being.

New apps are now forcing us to get out of bed in the morning to lace up our running shoes; Zen-like, they decree we must take a five-minute meditation break in the middle of a busy business day. Apps teach us to speak a new language.

They have become an on-screen life-coach motivating real life results and behavioural shifts, taking on a radical new influence in sections of society.

According to Paul Lin, CEO of leading mobile app development agency Buuna, a new breed of apps are in fact behind positive change in attitudes toward healthy mental and physical pursuits.

“There is an emergence of activity-geared applications that support this very notion, urging us to create positive change in our life – and people are listening,” he said

“These apps encourage us wherever we may need it – whether it’s eating better, exercising frequently, limiting phone use or taking a much-needed five minutes to meditate in the middle of a busy workday. This is stuff new years resolutions are made of.”

A recently released study reported people check their smart phones 34 times, per day and spend 127 minutes checking apps. It’s little wonder there is concern about our enslavement to technology, with journalists, academics and social commentators urging us to disconnect, wake up, and smell the roses.

However, Lin believes such obsessive devotion to smart phones can at least be channeled into positive behavioural functions.

“The very technology that makes some of us masters of procrastination can also make us get off the couch, learn a new language and say no to chocolate, when nothing else can,” he explained.

“App triggers are the magical ingredient that help propel us towards completing meaningful actions in our lives, and in a notification geared world, users react positively towards these triggers. They remind users of their goals and the good apps are designed to foster slow and steady progress. Whether it’s learning Japanese, losing 5kg or practicing mindfulness, consistent action leads to greater progress.”

“When we react to these systematic app triggers, we form habits – and positive habits are the key to achieving any goal.”

Paul cited examples of a new breed of apps to illustrate his point:

Fitness

To successfully form a habit, it’s not enough to simply log in or lock your eyeballs on the screen. If you log on MyFitnessPal six times a day, but you aren’t completing the required action – whether it’s paring back calories to meet your set goal or engaging in frequent exercise – the app simply doesn’t work. This shift takes users from a passive role to one of action. MyFitnessPal promotes the daily recording of a food consumption and exercise undertaken, providing a holistic snapshot of your health – daily, weekly and monthly.

21-year old social media professional Megan Smith relayed her personal experience using MyFitnessPal.

“It definitely encourages you to think about what you're putting in your body and the effect your dietary habits have on your health,” she said.

“After using it, I started to pay attention to my nutritional and exercise habits and trying to improve on them. It's definitely a great educational tool for enacting behavioural change if you're in the beginning stages of trying to become healthier. At times it can be easy to get wrapped up in over thinking the documentation process, but if you have the right attitude, it can be a genuinely helpful assistant.”

Wellness

Meditation and wellness apps like Buddify track your phone and computer use and remind you to take five minutes to sit silently meditate and refresh, when you are most in need of a break.

Learn a new language

DuoLingo is a free language learning and crowdsourced text translation platform. Its community works at translating each others submitted documents and it prompts you to revise and improve your elected language vocabulary through various learning techniques every day – praising you for your flourishing language skills when earned. The free app allows you to select which language you'd like to learn or strengthen and continues to bolster its selection of languages to learn. Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Italian or English are some of the many options.

Goal setting

Gamification encourages users to stay locked to their goal. Using game rewards as an incentive to complete tasks in a non-game context inspires the undertaking of undesirable tasks to gain rewards.

StickK is an application that enables you to set a goal and then elect a consequence. If you fail, you have to do whatever dreaded thing you have elected.

Memory retention

Memrise is an app based on memory retention, turning revision into a game where you grow a colourful garden. If you continue to revise when prompted your garden flourishes. If you neglect your notification, your flowers wilt and die.