From Smart Home Routines to Forced Deodorant Alarms: People Are Battling to Stick to Pill Schedules
The conversation centers on building hyper-specific, automated routines using platforms like Home Assistant, requiring triggers from mobile alarms. Technical troubleshooting dominates, covering details like needing to locate 'never' settings for indefinite alarms on Lineage OS or dealing with Google Pixel alarms that expire after ten minutes.
There is no consensus on adherence strategies. Some people push for technological oversight, with 'bjoern_tantau' suggesting photo evidence as a mandatory alarm trigger. Others criticize technology's limits; 'nullroot' points out how easily distraction overrides any digital prompt. Practical advice surfaces, ranging from 'W3dd1e' advocating physical separation—putting meds in another room—to 'm0darn' proposing an arbitrary physical link: taking meds the exact moment deodorant is applied.
Ultimately, the group acknowledges that flawless digital scheduling is hard. While physical barriers and novel habit anchors are proposed, the core conflict remains: technology is seen as insufficient alone. The problem isn't the alarm clock; it’s the human consistency that keeps failing.
Key Points
Physical separation of medicine storage is a reliable reminder mechanism.
Placing medications in a separate room forces the user to get up, a suggestion from 'W3dd1e'.
Technological enforcement via photo confirmation is a viable, if invasive, solution.
'bjoern_tantau' suggested an alarm system demanding photo proof of intake.
Tying medication intake to another fixed daily habit provides a strong behavioral anchor.
'm0darn' proposed linking the act to applying deodorant.
Automating wake-up routines requires complex integration across specific platforms.
Setting up multi-step sequences using Home Assistant needs specific alarms like those from Fossify Clock, according to 'Godnroc'.
Relying solely on digital alarms is unreliable because distraction trumps alerts.
'nullroot' stated that even blinking distraction can negate the reminder system.
Source Discussions (3)
This report was synthesized from the following Lemmy discussions, ranked by community score.