Science & Tech
New app aimed at young people trying to butt out

Credits: FILE PHOTO

QMI AGENCY

Researchers at the University of Waterloo in Ontario have developed a new app they say can help smokers kick the habit.

The Crush the Crave app was launched Thursday and it offers quitters a customized plan to help monitor habits and understand craving triggers. The application for cellphones or tablets allows users to share the results with those supporting their attempts to quit.

The app is particularly developed for young smokers.

"Young Canadians may, for the first time, have a shorter life expectancy than their parents," Bruce Baskerville, a senior scientist at the Propel Centre for Population Health Impact at Waterloo, said in a release about the app. "This is the first evidence-based mobile app targeted to people between the ages of 19 and 29: the demographic with the highest smoking rates in Canada, and the most users of smartphones."

Health Canada provided $350,552 for the project.

Before its launch, the app had more than 12,000 Facebook fans and 400 Twitter followers.

"I love this app because it reminds me how much I am actually smoking," Philipp Beckermann said on the Crush the Crave website.

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