Testing the Hypothesis Part 2

Opportunity: Alachua County has changed the Tobacco law age to 21+. The opportunity that I saw with this recent change is the eventual full-on quitting of nicotine vapes as they are being exposed in a primarily negative light recently and raising the legal age is already a big step forward. I propose a nicotine reward system that will track your nicotine usage like a fitness watch. Each day you will get a certain amount of nicotine hits, but as the days go on you get less and less until you quit altogether.

Who: Some businesses that share a lot in common with my opportunity proposition is other types of nicotine alternatives such as nicotine patches and nicotine gum. Nicorette and Pixotene are just a couple of these companies who are trying to create products to help people quit nicotine. However, these companies differ from my idea because they lack any type of user experience design which will ideally keep consumers more interested and actually quit.

What: This need is more specific to younger kids who are addicted to nicotine because of the recent explosion of nicotine vapes. I am not expecting 30-year-old construction workers to suddenly download an app to quit cigarettes, but I believe that a high school kid who got addicted because of his friends Juul would definitely consider a phone application to help him quit.

Why: While two people who want to quit nicotine have the same end goal, I feel like people who smoke cigarettes and people who vape have different mentalities about nicotine. People who vape do it because they know cigarettes are "bad" for you but they still want the nicotine buzz. Yet, people who smoke cigarettes smoke because they need nicotine, or at least that's how they feel. Someone who knows they might get cancer but chooses to smoke cigarettes anyway is going to handle quitting much differently than someone who hits a mango pod everyday.

Interviews:
1)  Ben, 18, UF freshman: Ben has been at UF for a semester now, having finished up Summer B. He had never had a vape before but ended up buying one over summer. He uses it daily, but is starting to think that he may be wasting his money. He likes the buzz but he just doesn't think its worth the money anymore. Ben said that he would definitely consider downloading an app to help him quit.

2) Lindsay, 20, UF Junior: Lindsay has owned a Juul for 3 years now and is severely addicted to it. She hits it first thing when she wakes up and before she falls asleep. She says that she has never really thought about quitting until recent news about its potential health risks. Lindsay said she was interested in the app and would definitely consider it if she was going to try and quit.

3) John, 19, UF Sophomore: John was a frequent nicotine vaper as a freshman but decided to go cold turkey over summer. Upon coming back to school John had a relapse and started to vape again. When asked about this product John showed interest and joked that if Sims could get him off nicotine it would be way worth it.

4) Anna, 21, UF Senior: Anna has never personally owned a nicotine device but admits that she often asks her friends to let her use theirs. When asked how often she vaped per day, she thought about it for a second and said,"more often than I'd like to admit." Since she doesn't actually own one she had never really considered quitting but thinks that an app interface would be helpful.

5) Paul, 35, Bus Driver: Paul used to be a heavy smoker, but when Juul first started to advertise their product he got a vape as a means to stop smoking cigarettes. He said that it was hard at first but that he thinks he has made a big improvement since. As a cigarette smoker he said he would never use an app, but now that he's been able to get himself off of cigarettes he would definitely consider it as a means to go nicotine free.