p/sober-october-challenge
Taking a break from alcohol this fall? Don't do it alone!
Kyleigh Smith
Sober October AI Chatbot โ€” An AI messaging chatbot that makes Sober October fun.
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Take a fall break from alcohol with this fun messaging based challenge. Get 1 text per day from the Arpy AI chatbot to log your progress and see how others in the challenge are doing as well. **Available via SMS for the US and internationally on Whats App!!**
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Kyleigh Smith
8 months ago I launched the Dry January Challenge on Product Hunt and got #3 Product of the Day! Today I'm back with a new and improved version for... ๐ŸŽƒ ๐Ÿ‘ป SOBER OCTOBER ๐Ÿ‘ป ๐ŸŽƒ The best part? It's now available on WhatsApp!!! ๐Ÿ™Œ Would love to hear your feedback if you try it out!
Sharath Kuruganty
Congrats Kyleigh ๐Ÿš€ I need something like for my diet, haha especially works in the coming holiday season ๐Ÿ˜Š
Kyleigh Smith
@5harath oh interesting, like tracking sweets or junk food?
Jim Zhou
In all fairness, since alcohol withdrawals have physical symptoms, thanks to the GABAgeric nature of ethanol and the voluminous scientific research on what withdrawal may cause, including seizures and a host of, generously speaking, terrible effects not dissimilar to benzodiazepine withdrawal, it would surely be a good idea to at least have some sort of disclaimer in the case where someone participates without fully knowing the very real potential medical risks that they may end up suffering due to what is portrayed as a fun challenge? A lot of challenges such as these are harm-neutral, as in, it doesn't really have substantive benefits but also does not have any bearing on one's actual physical health and well-being by partaking. Psychological effects are ultimately different from physical, observable, and reproduceable effects and it's not a given that everyone knows that they have an issue, especially as there are a host of other health concerns that partly resemble some of the symptoms and may not be immediately recognizable to someone who haven't had the experience in going through the process in the first place. Obviously the best case scenario is that nobody actually gets hurt and it ends up being a fun challenge, but since the potential for actual, physical, attributable harm exists, surely the responsible thing, not to mention easily the far cheaper solution in the worst case that involves litigation, would be at least a warning and maybe links to actual resources to taper/substitute in a medically supervised environment if someone wants to actually kick what is a problematic and long term problem instead of the sort of light social drinking that I think your app is really targeting? I realize that the way society portrays issues like use/abuse is problematic and distorts and makes false equivalencies while ignoring real problems (and really, the whole temperance/sobriety culture has its own problems as a whole, but much ink and podcast time have been spent on that). I personally haven't drank alcohol since before the pandemic purely as a personal preference matter and had no negative consequences before or after, but I'm also aware that I'm an outlier as I am aware of my great grandmother and grandmother abruptly stopping alcohol consumption at a similar age as me without much ill effect when previously they were daily drinkers, as was I, and I also told nobody and set no goals and therefore felt no obligations beyond how I felt. I can almost assure everyone that this is unlikely to be the experience for anyone in my shoes and really only illustrates the wide potential outcomes that may arise. If nothing else, responsible disclosure is not just a term used in security circles, and transparency may even end up helping some people who actually need help but don't know how or where to get help. I think a visible and serious notice/disclaimer of some sort is at least warranted, since there aren't too many drugs with physical withdrawals in the grand scheme of all drugs out there as far as we know, but alcohol is certainly one of them. Oh, and the adage "it's always easier to ask for forgiveness instead of permission" doesn't apply if litigation may be involved, and that risk is going to be present whenever the potential exists for actual harm. Easier in the literal sense, sure, but financial sense? A quick note and some links can save you a lot of headaches and possible costs down the road. Prevention is also part of medicine for a reason.
Kyleigh Smith
@jim_zhou thanks for the thoughtful feedback! I will definitely add a disclaimer. I have seen research that did find benefits from doing a sober challenge, itโ€™s linked on the site which is what made me want to do this for myself and build the product.
Esus ๐Ÿ›ก๏ธ
Great to see the launch @bagelsangranola ! I'll be hunting a project soon for a 'Make $1000 in October challenge', maybe people can do them both for maximum challenges hahah. Also amazing to see you reuse some concepts from heyitsHarold here! Can't wait to see what's next. Congrats on your launch!
Kyleigh Smith
@esus thanks, means a lot! Iโ€™ll keep a look out for your project
Luca Restagno
Yes! A new challenge from Kyleigh! Thatโ€™s what my need to improve our lives. Congrats on the launch Kyleigh! ๐Ÿ™Œ
Andrew Peluso
I took part in the Dry January challenge (back when it was Harold) and really enjoyed the gamification and accountability of the daily texts. Awesome program!
Kyleigh Smith
@andrew_peluso Thanks Andrew! Glad you enjoyed it! Will you be doing Dry January again this year?
Kyleigh Smith
@andrew_peluso this is what I like to hear! Let me know if you have any feedback from last time + want to see anything different this time around
Anton Cherkasov
Congrats on getting #3 Product of the Day! It's cool to see you coming back with a new and improved version for Sober October. And the fact that it's available on WhatsApp is even better!
Maksim Mamchur
Congrats on the launch! Cool product๐Ÿ”ฅ