[DOF] Entertainment: Mobile Phone Usage

So a month ago, I was introduced to a mobile app called ‘Hold’. Hold is an app that counts how long you’ve been off your phone and in every 20 minutes that you don’t use your phone/hold from it, you gain 10 points as a reward. It’s a reward system that if you earn so many points, you can claim certain things such as raffle cards, gift cards, discount codes and so forth depending on however much points you’ve got and if you can “afford” their point price. During the time I started it, they didn’t really have much on offer as their reward although they were trying to get more stores and online shops to participate to encourage people/students to reduce their phone usage. I liked the idea of it despite not really being all that much of a big fan of the rewards, although they did have like £2 discount code for costa drink, free popcorn in VUE cinema etc. They also had rewards where you can donate pencils, balls and so through UNICEF(? can't really check for certain as I am holding right now) from the mean of the points. Now I have spent that instead with my points but after a while of Holding I kind of got bored because no one seemed to be using it and I usually get a little competitive in terms of the holding points which they have a weekly ranking with your friends who has the app (if you are connected to Facebook). And come on, you have to admit that without competitors it kind of gets boring so I still held for a bit but not as much as I used to do so until recently.

Recently, I suddenly noticed that they seemed to have affiliated with more stores and online shops which included Amazon, New Look etc. I was more interested with Amazon as they offered a £5 gift card for 2,500 points. As I had more than 2,500 points from holding too much recently, I got it and tried it by buying myself a phone case and it actually did really work. After that, I was intrigued. I texted my sister (who introduced me to the app) and told her the good news! I know 2,500 points is a lot of points from a 10 points per 20 minutes’ deal but that’s like free £5 from not using your phone. That’s like killing two birds with one stone with how it promotes both minimal phone usage and shopping money. I started religiously holding after the introduction of more rewards and I have actually seen more people from my Facebook join Hold and those who previously stopped has started again.

In my experience the app has been quite a life changer as I find myself using my phone less, although maybe I am using my laptop more, but I used to be the type who is always attached to my phone. I’m always checking it every minute despite having nothing to check. I’m the type who would need and want to fiddle with something which has been my phone but after the app, I became less reliant to it.

Have you encountered and heard about the app? What do you think about the whole concept of it? Do you think that it would be something that you’d try? Comment down below your thoughts and opinions.