At the back end of last year I wrote about a study exploring the use of text messaging to help improve our health.

It looked at the performance of people looking to improve their fitness levels, and the role text message support played in the process.

“Think of these messages as digital check-ins from your physician, gently but persistently reminding you to fit more exercise into your day,” the authors say. “The strategy appears to work.”

The data revealed that participants who received text based support were twice as likely to reach their fitness goal than those who received no such support.

Messenger support

Suffice to say, text messaging in general has moved on in the past few years, with users turning to the likes of Snapchat, and lately to automated services such as messenger bots, but they are still successfully used to provide us with reminders of things like doctors appointments.

One such service is called Wonder, and they aim to provide the kind of reminders mentioned in the study above.  Rather than prodding us towards more healthy lifestyles however, the service initially aims to provide us with more run of the mill reminders, such as the passcode to our gym or the phone number of our boss.

The free service allows users to upload the information they wish to ‘remember’, and it will then reply automatically via SMS when asked to remind them.

Whilst it’s a service that isn’t without merit, I do wonder if they couldn’t turn their attention to slightly more useful ends and apply the kind of behavioral nudges highlighted at the start of this post.  There are no shortage of services that aim to provide a kind of coaching support service to help us achieve our goals, and this is the kind of direction I’d be happy to see Wonder go in.

Do check it out though and let me know your thoughts in the comments below.