Reframe: The App That’s Helping Users Change Their Relationship With Alcohol
When Georgia Tech graduates Vedant Pradeep and Ziyi Gao first went through the university’s CREATE-X incubator in 2018, they weren’t planning to create an alcoholic recovery app. But when their original idea to create a product that would detect hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar, in diabetic patients didn’t work out, they did what the best entrepreneurs do: they pivoted.
And so came Reframe, an app designed to help users change their relationship with alcohol by providing a mix of content (interactive activities, stories from recovering alcoholics, affirmations, and educational tools) to help distract them through alcohol cravings. Its functions arose from lessons Pradeep learned from managing his obsessive-compulsive disorder, according to an interview with Atlanta Inno. The app’s features give people a way to “deal with cravings immediately, then [move] to break those bad habits,” said Pradeep.
So how does it work? When you download the Reframe app, you’ll be asked a short series of questions covering topics like your drinking habits, your motivation for changing your habits, and your goals for joining the Reframe program. Creating an account gets you 1 free week, after which you have the option to pay a monthly rate of $7.99 or an annual rate of $49.99. Your subscription grants you access to a 160-day evidence-based program with daily tasks to keep you on track, access to a community forum with other users, and a myriad of other tools to help you reframe (ha ha, get it?) your personal relationship with alcohol.
As someone who was born and raised in the US and attends college here, it strikes me how often alcohol serves as the backdrop, if not the centerpiece, of social interactions. Alcohol is marketed as the perfect accompaniment to every mood and occasion. Sad? Have a drink to numb the pain. Happy? Have a drink to celebrate!
We live in a society that makes the choice to be sober an act of friction, something that can be especially difficult for those who struggle with alcoholism and addiction. Though I personally do not struggle with alcoholism, I’ve personally seen and experienced how it can be all too easy for people to develop an unhealthy relationship with alcohol, if not become dependent on it altogether. This is especially the case for college students, surrounded by peers and social environments that often tell us that unhealthy habits like binge drinking are totally normal.
That’s why I think an app like Reframe can be especially useful for people who may feel like their relationship with alcohol needs a refresh (#notsponsored although ARE YOU KIDDING I WISH). If it sounds like something that might be up your alley, check it out and start your free trial today.
Written by: Rurie Yi| IQ Associate
