Text2Calm: “Living in the moment.”

A pilot program on calming by :Mitchell Fukumoto

A Brief Rundown

• Take a photo of a “moment” during the day.• Reminded once a day via text.• At the end of the day, send the photo back via text or email.• A “moment of the day” is sent back at the end of the day

showcasing the best “moment of the day.”• All pictures are posted to a blog: http://lifeiswin.tumblr.com/

First Round Survey – After one week

• Q: How did you feel when you were asked to complete your task?Answers: “I actually wanted to do it!”, “too enthusiastic, couldn’t stop”, “excited”

• Q: How did you feel after completing your task?Answers: “accomplished”, “happy”, “nostalgic”, “more aware of my surroundings”

• Q: Was the blog and/or the moment of the day effective?Answers: “I liked it because it was my community”, “it definitely spread the joy”, “added incentive to take a great picture”, “it’s nice to see what people chose to reflect on”

First Round Feedback

• “I wanted to do when I wasn't stressed, but when I was stressed or busy, it felt like an obligation.”

• “I was usually pretty aware of when I was forgetting to take my picture…Other than just remembering in the back of my head, I didn't have anything to prompt me everyday.”

• “more reminders!”• “It might be fun to occasionally get prompted pictures

instead of just a reminder. For instance instead of just ‘capture a moment of the day,’ something like ‘take a moment to notice people's smiles today’”

Best Feedback Received

• Out of 7 original participants, 6 were regular contributors. 86% initial retention rate.

• Out of 6 regular contributors, 6 agreed to continue with the project. 100% retention rate.

Second Round Implementation

• Add more reminders– Hopefully one will trigger the behavior.

• Take a picture once every other day at your leisure but reminders are sent every day. – Attempt to remove the obligation of taking a picture.

Gives the user a bigger time frame.

• Some days, add a “moment challenge” to take a picture of something specific.

Moving Forward

• Will continue to blog indefinitely. Received many comments that the blog was the best thing to come out of this project.

• Personally, I will continue to take pictures. It makes me calmer, happier and is like a virtual journal of my daily life.

• Added Google Analytics to the blog to track network traffic. Will attempt to increase traffic to the site and followers to the blog.

Contact Information

Mitchell Fukumoto

Twitter username: mitchfukuPersonal blog: mitchfuku.tumblr.comPicture blog: lifeiswin.tumblr.com

For more information or to join this project, contact me at: mitchsf7@stanford.edu