Hotseat: a mobile app to motivate you to take a (meaningful) work break

Fran Melmed wants you to get up.

“We sit too much,” she says.

So Melmed created Hotseat, an mobile app to fight what some call “the sitting disease.”

According to a recent report the ill effects of sitting, covered by USA Today, reducing the time we sit to less than three hours per day could add two years to our lives.

Hotseat, targeted to large companies, gives employees little reminders to get out of their seats and take a break. The app provides a whole slew of activities you can do, like playing games with your coworkers or doing in-office exercises.

Melmed, who founded a Philly-based consulting firm specializing in workplace wellness called context communication, say she’s looking to pilot the app with employers and is in talks with some firms. She’s also looking for financial backing.

Hotseat was designed by Boston-based shop MadPow.

Melmed, 47, lives in Bella Vista with her husband and two daughters.

At Technically Philly HQ, the team takes breaks in the forms of electro dance parties and wiffle ball. But we sure ain’t getting any younger.