Future Food: “Smart” Vending Machines Make You Wait for Junk Food

“We want snacks, and we want them now!” That seems to be the general consensus when it comes to vending machines.

A new study funded by the National Institutes of Health found that delaying access to high-calorie, nutrition-less foods can encourage people to opt for more healthy snack options. Thus, a new vending machine was created that puts a 25-second delay on less healthy items, which gave people ample time to think about their choice. (The healthier choice, then, appears more quickly – as if being rewarded for making the right decision.)

The machine – which contains the new DISC system (Delay to Improve Snack Choices) – displays the delivery countdown on an LED screen, just to be sure customers see the delay front and center. The healthy snacks are also labeled as so, in comparison to the less healthy options. Reulsts showed the delay yielded a 2-5% increase in the proportion of  healthy snacks purchased from the machine. “Having to wait for something makes it less desirable,” Brad Appelhans, Ph.D., of Rush University Medical Center in Chicago said. “Research shows that humans strongly prefer immediate gratification, and this preference influences choices and behavior in daily life.”

It’s an ingenious invention, and surely one that has potential to reduce our country’s obsession with processed foods, but the invention poses a few problems: First, what exactly constitutes a healthy snack versus an unhealthy one? (For some diets, fruit snacks aren’t the best choice, but for others, they’re a better option than chocolate-covered anything.) Second, most know that when a craving hits and the vending machine is the only option, 25 seconds is wait time worth withstanding. And if not, there’s always the bodega next door.