The App that Transforms Drinking Habits: a Case Study

As a child of two parents who both struggled with alcoholism, Nick Allen had a choice to make when it came to his own drinking. He could follow the same destructive path his parents took, or he could swear off drinking altogether.

But for Allen, and millions of others like him, all or nothing wasn’t much of a choice. Instead, Allen found a third way and co-founded a multimillion-dollar company in the process: Sunnyside.

Allen told me in an interview, “Over the past two decades … I’ve learned that if I’m not being conscious and intentional about the role alcohol plays in my health, it can quickly become out of balance with my health and life goals. That said, complete sobriety has never felt like the right fit for me.”

Moderation instead of total abstinence best suited Allen’s lifestyle. Yet as he searched for an app that would help him drink mindfully, all he found were apps that pushed sobriety.

So he built an app of his own: the Sunnyside app.

The Sunnyside app unpacks ingrained drinking habits and replaces them with healthier ones that last, empowering people to find a balance with their alcohol consumption.

It’s a terrific example of how technology can change habits for good, and I was delighted to learn Allen and his team…