Are you addicted to fillers? Those “Ums” or “Likes” or “Uhs” in your speech?

Well now there’s an app that can help you break your addiction.

Fillers are basically words that are meaningless except to create conversation cues. Fillers can be effective communication tools if used properly.  For example, “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice … Uhhh… you ain’t gonna fool me twice.”

Problem with fillers — they are addictive and easily become overused, loosing any value they may add as cues. The other big reason we use them is to cover up times when we are thinking about what to say next.

Ummo, the app, comes to the rescue. It’s really a simple but powerful self-awareness tool. Use it especially for speeches, presentations, or to get an idea of your speech patterns in general conversation. While the app will really help, we also need to learn to use pregnant pauses and be okay with silence while gathering thoughts.

Here’s a full review of the app I found helpful. Currently, it is only available for the iPhone.

If you want take another 5 minutes, check out Wikipedia’s list of fillers in different languages.