Can Technology Help Me Quit Smoking?

[rangerrebew]

Can Technology Help Me Quit Smoking?
Smartphone apps and other technological solutions offer smoking cessation support for some smokers.

By Elaine K. Howley, Contributor |Dec. 12, 2017, at 9:00 a.m.
 

There are currently more than 200 different smoking cessation smartphone applications available online that offer a range of different approaches to help smokers kick the habit. (Getty Images)

It was June 1957 that the U.S. Surgeon General cleared the air: Smoking had conclusively been linked to lung cancer. The portion of Americans who smoke has fallen steadily – from more than 42 percent of American adults in 1965 to 16.8 percent in 2014 – and yet more than 15 percent of Americans still smoke, according to 2015 data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Now the CDC reports that cigarette smoking accounts for more than 480,000 deaths annually, of which more than 127,000 result from lung cancer. It's a safe bet that most smokers today know smoking is bad for their health, but quitting the habit can still be extraordinarily difficult.

https://health.usnews.com/health-care/patient-advice/articles/2017-12-12/can-technology-help-me-quit-smoking

[Gefn]

You have to want to quit to quit.

That goes for any addiction

[massadvj]

When I quit smoking 35 years ago I used a lot of little gimmicks that were helpful.  I made a little booklet and listed every reason I wanted to quit, then put the book in the same pocket where I kept my cigarettes.  I sucked on lollipops, and once in a while I would push in the cigarette lighter of my car and absent-mindedly start to light the end of a lollipop stick.  If there were apps and patches in those days, I would probably have used them.

Ultimately, it takes a lot of willpower and discipline.  No app or gimmick can replace that, but anything that promotes quitting (shy of the government forcing everyone to do it) is a good thing.