Smart insults could be a way to healthier you!

Being insulted by an app, albeit a free one, is apparently more acceptable (and effective) than being disparaged in similar vein by a suitably curmudgeonly fellow human being.

The popularity of the Carrot apps would certainly reinforce the likelihood of former, otherwise, why would anyone willingly bring on badmouthing — that too, electronically generated — to accomplish what should be best done with cool-headed determination? That an app on a smartphone can do what nagging parents, spouses or siblings have not been able to — eject people from bed on time in the morning, or make them go for that calorie-burning run or, indeed, stop them from gorging on that cholesterol-laden snack — how on earth with nary a boot to ensure compliance, is nothing short of amazing. If true, that is.

It is not the first shame-driven tool to force accountability. We have had the HAPIfork that vibrates when quantity limits are breached, and a belt that loosens automatically after a heavy meal but also sends advice on extra exercise. But as all the variants of the Carrot app also have the easy option favoured by the weak-willed — monetary bribes to forego punishment and succumb to that soporific or calorific temptation — the notion that it might eventually become just a nasty conscience prick than a lifesaver is not unfounded.