Research:
Gratitude is a positive, pro-social emotion that is robustly associated with features of high-quality, healthy social relationships and fosters socially productive behaviors. A growing body of research over the past twenty years shows that gratitude is impressive in its psychosocial and physiological benefits: increased sense of wellbeing, decreased symptoms of depression, improved recovery outcomes, lower blood pressure, and improved immune function. A small but growing body of work suggests that being grateful promotes physical health as well, regarding fewer reports of physical health problems, better sleep quality, and more time spent exercising.
Gratitude Problem:
While the benefits of gratitude are well established, for most people, cultivating gratitude is on a long list of things we ‘should’ do, right after diet, exercise, and cleaning out that messy drawer in the kitchen. There are many exercises and techniques to enhance gratitude but few tools to assist in the process. Significant barriers exist between evidence-based techniques and effective implementation of the techniques in mobile applications.
The most popular gratitude enhancement technique is the text gratitude journal. Text gratitude journaling is the exercise of focusing on positive aspects of life where individuals write down things for which they are grateful. While the traditional text gratitude journal is an accepted and proven technique for enhancing gratitude, there are significant limitations: 1) Text is fundamentally limiting in comparison to other multimedia formats. 2) The traditional journaling process places more emphasis on new inputs rather than an equal emphasis on new inputs and reflection of past inputs, i.e., individuals rarely reflect upon past journal entries. 3) Gratitude journaling is an isolated activity.
GratePic Solution:
The goal of the GratePic app is to help you enhance gratitude by solving identified limitations with traditional gratitude journaling. We propose that images are a better medium for the gratitude journal. GratePic is a gratitude journal of images – a social network where you can cultivate gratitude in your daily life. GratePic combines a picture with gratitude in order to form a "gratepic", an image that represents appreciation for what is valuable and meaningful to you. GratePic was designed to trigger feelings of gratitude, to help you see all the beautiful things in your life. Journaling is an inherently isolated activity, but GratePic introduces a social element into the journaling process. Unlike other social media applications, you can derive benefits from GratePic if you have one friend or one million friends!
How-It-Works:
1 – Take a picture of something you are grateful for
2 – Edit and upload your gratitude to your profile
3 – Reflect on all your gratepics, all the things you have to be grateful for.
Features:
Evidence-based research guided the development of each feature.
Profile – a personal collection of your grateful moments.
GrateFeed – see what others are grateful for
Inspiration –thousands of inspirational stories
Friends – connect with friends
Reminders – set daily reminders
GrateText – count your blessings technique
30 Day Challenge:
Try GratePic for 30 Days. Take a picture, a "GratePic", of something you are grateful for each day, and spend a few minutes reflecting on all that you have to be grateful for, all your “GratePics”.
We bet youll be happier and healthier :)