Another wet, a dark day in January, at 5 pm, such as Clockwork, I feel uncomfortable needs, and it is sweeping from my success: the desire for a cup of wine. I can imagine the scene: I descended from my office to the kitchen, pulled a bottle of Pinot Gris from the refrigerator and poured light yellow liquid into a large cup, where moisture grains collect on the glass.
It was the first sips that slip into my throat in a wonderful stream of fun, and I will feel a material release because the wine relieved me from working to play. My shoulder will relax. The amazing feeling will rush from my success.
But I could not take these beloved first sips. It was not because I was participating in the dry month of January. If I have a cup of wine, I will have to lie on a robot.
Again in 2021, to reduce my epidemiological practices of drinking three cups of white wine per day, I registered for an application called “Discount coach“The application of drinking alcohol, for $ 79 a year, was helping me to reduce alcohol consumption.
I registered in time. An American drinking habits, including mine. It seems that everyone was restricting wine or whiskey to deal with isolation and anxiety. Rand’s study showed this Women increased their drinking by 41 % During the epidemic. The federal government had said for decades, it was good for the Americans to drink moderately: drinking one day for women and two for men. However, more modern studies have concluded that even small amounts of alcohol are harmful. This month, the American public surgeon stated that alcohol causes cancer and that there is no safe amount. he Calling for warning signs on Bottles, such as warnings on cigarette packages.
When I started using my drinking application, I frankly answered the daily quota questions in the robot. It was easy to do. Within a few months, I moved from three to a cup of wine per day, and all of them were correctly reported to the coach (whose name quickly turned to “Sunnyside”).
The problems started when I tried to reduce more.
When a Facebook girlfriend said he would stay completely away from alcohol, she decided to try the first January 1 in 2022.
I went to cold Türkiye, switching dear wine for MotCle. My new 5 pm rituals were Seltzer, Mint, Ginger, pressure of lime and a simple drink in a high ball cup. This is a wonderful tasting wine elixir. While I had to overcome the first weeks, the craving eventually decreased. I grew better. In addition, I got exciting when “0” recorded a robot and heard again, “Keep in great work.”
When February rolled, she resumed drinking, and a long time ago, she settled on four drinks per week. I am not ascetic. I didn’t want to completely give up Chablis or Riesling. Four drinks felt a good compromise.
But at any time, I began to rid the numbers. When the robot asked me about the number of drinks I had, my finger was hovering on the number 2, but I would press 1. I was afraid of bombing my weekly goal.
In general, I consider myself a very honest person, some friends say. But I did not face any problem with lying on the robot. What made it ridiculous is that there were no consequences. The robot was not ruled. “Be patient with yourself and before this positive change takes time,” her words were the most cruel.
I did not feel satisfied with lying. However, I could not stop myself. It was not as if I was returning to 21 drinks per week. I just exceeded my share by one or two. Why can’t I admit these slight violations … to a machine?
I turned to the Internet for answers. “Why do people lie?” And found dozens of articles. “Lying allows a person to prove the control over the situation by manipulating it,” I mentioned one British article. This is logical when you lie to someone. But not when you lie to the robot, which is a pre -printed automatic response.
When I narrowed my inquiry to “lying to your robot”, a 2021 study appeared by an assistant professor at the College of Information at Michigan University. 848 people have studied and decided that they were more than twice the possibility that they would lie when communicating with an automatic system, as when speaking to someone. “Human existence is the key to mitigating unsafe behavior,” was its conclusion.
But “why” remained far. I turned to my companions, who hung on the Sunnyside app. “Does anyone else lie about the number of drinks he possesses?” I asked.
Responses from her colleagues poured into colleagues. One of them admitted that she was flowing on large stakes of wine and considered it as one basis. Another said that she does not want to admit failure to adhere to a plan. Others felt shy. One of them said it was “prepared bot.”
I discovered that I was not alone in lying on a robot that was reassuring. But he did not explain my deception.
The best of my giving birth is that I lie to the robot because I follow the rule. I would like to think I have control of my circumstances. I want to be better than me.
I know now, thanks to lying on my robot, how difficult it is for me, or any of us, to be honest in ourselves, and how easy to move and move forward.
Meanwhile, four years after my subscription to the retreat coach, I am still trying to drink less. Why, on the other night, I had no wine. At least, this is what Bob told.
Frances Dinkespiel, author, journalist and co -founder of CITYSIDE, with sites in Berkeley. Auckland and Riccolide.