Thursday, October 5, 2006

Simon Says: Smoke

Filed under: OTC

Linkman has created a device to help smokers quit without relying on patches or gums. About the size of a cigarette, the Smoking Cessation Device outputs different colored lights to indicate whether you are allow to smoke or not:

"The Linkman™ is your smoking 'chaperone'. Carry it on your keychain. Double-click the button when you want to smoke. Depending upon the time elapsed since your last cigarette, the Linkman™ will either grant you permission to smoke with a solid green light, or it will tell you to wait longer by blinking red."

The science behind the device lies in the theory of compound interest:

"The minimum wait time between cigarettes starts at 10 minutes, and increases by only 0.39 % per activation. For the second cigarette, you must wait at least 10 minutes and 2 seconds, and so on. With the effects of compounding at a rate of 0.39%, the Linkman™ is designed to gradually wean your smoking addiction down to approximately 1 cigarette per day within 6 months. This is just lenient enough to allow you to smoke when you need nicotine, but strict enough to effectively reduce your addiction."

We suppose the premise of the device is: you're powerless over your addiction, so instead of letting your life be ruled by tobacco, let it be governed by tiny blinking lights. Then again, if it works, the blinking lights should be hailed as wise and benevolent masters.

We must note, however, that nicorette, wellbutrin, and other cessation options have a considerable body of evidence supporting their use. The blinking lights, as yet, do not.

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