Red Pill Project

As the world trends toward virtual communication more and more, we see phone/internet addiction as an emerging black cloud looming over the future. The internet was conceived in order to optimize human connection, but nowadays we are hooked on mindless scrolling and indirect/impersonal forms of communication. This is the problem that the Red Pill App aims to address. We want to determine the value of mindful reflection and feedback as it relates to addictive phone usage. The Red Pill App would allow users to specify certain websites and mobile applications, ones that are taking up too much time without providing value in return. Then, 50% of the time when an App on the specified list is opened, Users would be presented with a prompt from Red Pill which asks one to assess their Current Disposition and their Value of Purpose for this current engagement with the App. Once the prompts are answered, the User is given the option to proceed using the App or decline use. If the App is opened, upon exiting Users are asked once again to evaluate their Current Disposition. The other 50% of the time, no intervention on user activity is levied. Finally, the App will prompt the User with a Daily Assessment using the same two prompts: How Happy were you with your Day? and How Well did you carry out your plan for the day? The goal is to test the impact of mindfulness on phone usage and the relationship between disposition and self-discipline. On the backend, we want to be able to collect data in order to assess the value of this intervention. This would include a User's answers to the prompts, how often they declined App usage after the Red Pill intervention, and the length of time spent on the App in question.