The 21st Century has officially arrived. Not only can we talk to a missionary on a cell phone in Africa as clear as if they're sitting next to us, but we can also help people stop smoking by texting them messages. This is not my dad's technology for sure.
I came to the texting world fairly late, by today's standards. I'm in my forties and I just recently purchased a cell phone and plan that included texting. I had to have the Verizon wireless sales-lady teach me how to text. But my nephew can send a 2 paragraph text message with less than 40 characters in 30 seconds flat, and he includes a picture with it. Just amazing!
Well, smoking cessation is evolving with technology. A recent study looked at texting as a smoking cessation tool for college students. Apparently, there is a resurgence of smoking in this young population - despite the wealth of knowledge that details how dangerous smoking is. Researchers enrolled college smokers to see what affect texting would have on their quit outcomes. Although, they study didn't go far enough in establishing the effect on long term cessation, it did seem to offer help with short term cessation in this population.
So texting may be a tool that can be used by cessation professionals as they look for novel approaches to assist them in their efforts. It obviously isn't a stand alone tool, but just one more resource available to encourage and lift up someone who is trying to quit.
