I just want to hit the button

Akrasia
1

I’ve had this pretty simple idea that I unfortunately am not capable of executing on personally, so I’m putting it out in the wild.

There’s a real, physical button that is connected to your phone via an app, using bluetooth or something. You take this button and put it somewhere outside of your home. Then, you go hit the button. When you do, it sends a signal to the app, which Beeminder watches for and updates to your “Hit the button” goal. Hit the button, get +1 on your goal. Did you hit the button today?

Then, optionally, you can move the button a little bit farther away, such that tomorrow you will have to walk a little bit more to be able to hit the button.

That’s it. I have not found a way to beemind walking that I like in any other way, like counting steps or miles. Monkey brain wants simple. Monkey brain just wants to hit the button.

Why is this compelling?

“Just go for a walk, it’s the easiest thing in the world” - it really isn’t that simple to a lot of people. There’s a lot of people who feel stuck inside. Just leaving the house can be scary. They get their food delivered, or maybe they buy in bulk and so only leave the house once a month. They don’t have anyone to say “Hey lets go for a walk,” all they have is themselves. So they become even more shut in and reclusive. I’ve heard of places such as Japan where this is a big problem, and it is getting worse in the US as well, especially after covid.

Hit the button is a hand-holdy way to get people out of their comfort zone. If I could go poof and have it right here infront of me, I would start off by just putting it outside my door. Eventually though, I’d be traveling a mile or more in order to hit my button.

It could also be adapted for a few other things. Example. Ask to put it at your gym, so that you’re forced to go to the gym and hit the button. Well, now that you’re there, you might as well lift a few weights.

Problems:

  • There’s nothing checking to see where your button is and if you’re not just keeping it in your room and pressing it every day. As with most things, there’s still an element of honor system. It’s still up to the person to make sure their button is an adequate distance away for them.

  • A random person could discover your button and potentially assume nefarious intent.

  • You’d be placing your button on land that you probably don’t own… but you could mitigate this by trying to put it in a public place. The people who do Geocaching hide their caches for this reason.

These problems could make the idea impossible.

Alternative (potential solution): Make the “button” a printable QR code that you simply scan with your phone in order to obtain Beeminder progress. You’d have to laminate it to protect from rain.

I’m open to suggestions/feedback/thoughts.

Thanks.

4 Likes
2

Maybe a Flic button + IFTTT?

Personally as someone with an Oura ring if I wanted to Beemind walking I would track steps so it’s all automated.

1 Like
3

So it does already kind of exist. Will have to do a deep dive and investigate further. Thanks

1 Like
4

You could pick up some NFC tags. Then you could set up your phone to update beeminder when you scan one, either via the built in Shortcuts feature on iOS, or using something like Tasker on android.

2 Likes
5

Agree with @theospears that NFC tags are great for this - I used them with my Android phone, just to trigger a simple POST to the url for my goal via Tasker. I stuck them in lots of places - taped to my gym locker back in the day, on the floss packet, and beside the light switch (to record that all the outside lights were off at night).

3 Likes
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Woah, I’ve never heard of an nfc tag until just now… Looking into it

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Somehow I knew what RFID was but not NFC. Maybe because my phone is quite old and doesn’t have it as a feature (just double/triple checked).

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QR codes would work just as well, I think, although they’re a bit more conspicuous if public-visible.

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If you want to physically be in one place, you can do it, at least in iPhone, with geo location and Shortcuts app. I did it for gym. Whenever I’m close to some point, it counts as a gym visit. Very simple, you don’t have to do anything, just set up and forget. No need to scan, no need to run anything, just be there.

You can set 5 such locations (nearest forrest, park, beach) and get more beeminder points for hitting them (e.g it’s better to go to the park 5 kms away rather than to the noisy mall) etc. You can even set different points based on a time (eg. reward morning walks). Very flexible. I am 100% sure something like this exists for Android too.

1 Like