I’m all for healthy eating and a good body image. I truly am. But occasionally, an app like CARROT Hunger comes along, and its effects are so hilarious that I can’t help but buy into all the shaming and insulting that it does.
This is how the app works: it’s essentially a weight-loss app, and allows you to set daily calorie limits depending on your height, weight, and weight loss goals. You can also keep track of your exercise and workout sessions.
Unlike your usual calorie-tracker or motivational types, though, CARROT Hunger scolds you into losing weight. You heard that right — it speaks at you in a robotic voice, and calls you names like “chubby” and “gluttonous”. It sounds about as fun as P.E. lessons, but trust me, the whole situation is so ridiculous that it’s more funny than depressing.
To spare yourself the embarrassment of the robot speaking up at the dinner table, you can bribe it to stop talking — by paying it. Alternatively, you can have the app post tweets and status updates on all your social media accounts, telling the Internet about your overeating habits.
When contacted by TechCrunch, creator of the app, Brian Mueller, explained that, “It’s not just another productivity app. It’s done in a funny way, not just mean to be mean.”
It’s perfect if you like a healthy dose of sarcasm alongside your salad lunch, and seeing as CARROT Hunger is just one out of a series of other tough-talking apps, it seems the harsh approach is working out for some people.
Or, you know, they could just be downloading the app to laugh at it. I’d download this too, if only to pick up more insults to add to my ever-growing arsenal.
