wearables also have their dark side

Wonderful invention than wearables and activity trackers. These notably opened the doors to quantified self and made us want to do more sport. But is there only good with these devices? A study by the IFLSCIENCE website reveals the dark side of the strength of wearables.

Just about everyone has one, no matter what brand, whether it's a FitBit, Withings, Xiaomi, etc. or its form, the activity tracker now part of the landscape. Our daily newspapers are counted in steps, in calories burned, distance traveled in sleep curve and sometimes also in heart rate curves. And that's just the beginning. Many companies are working on ways to further refine the quantified self, and increasingly democratize it among consumers.

The question everyone is asking

Already today, it is completely possible to never leave your darling tracker, not even at night. The ISLSCIENCE website has finally asked the question that is subconsciously hovering around this kind of device: how do we feel about living with technology on us 24 hours a day, 7 days a week?

To answer this, the site carried out a study with 200 participants wearing a FitBit bracelet. It turned out that the majority of women saw the device as an integral part of them. The device was “always on and always on me”For 89% of participants, not removing it only to change the battery.

Changing habits to reach a goal

The study also revealed that the FitBit bracelet actively participated in the construction of life everyday and had a real impact on the decisions of these women, in terms of their eating habits, their exercise and the routes to take to get from one place to another. 91% of participants, for example, did not hesitate to take longer routes to increase their number of steps.

56% increased their pace in order to get closer to their goal of steps per day. A change in eating habits was observed in 76% of women, who preferred more healthy foods and took smaller portions.

Never without my activity tracker

Most participants, 88%, thought it was important to quantify their daily activities and to 84% check their statistics more than twice a day. One of the main assets that appeals to women wearing the bracelet? The little messages of encouragement and congratulations given by him.

The relationship between the owners and their bracelet is also very interesting. For many of them, 68%, the device is a kind of friend helping them reach their goal, giving them an immense feeling of personal satisfaction and pride. 77% of women would return health home to get their bracelet if they forgot it.

It’s not all white

Good partner to find the motivation to spend, good coach distributing compliments when the goal is reached … Because it was necessary one but in this whole story, here it is. Focus as much on your daily physical activity becoming a reflex that can even turn into an obsession is not necessarily healthy. When asked “how do you feel without your bracelet?”, 45% of women admitted feel like being "naked" without him. 22% even felt a loss of motivation to exercise.

Setting daily goals for yourself is both good for getting active, but can also be a source of stress. 49% of participants said they felt pressured because of this goal to be achieved on pain of seeing an ugly curve appear at the end of the day. 53% of women felt that their daily routine was governed by the bracelet, and 30% saw him as a real enemy, making them feel guilty if the goal is not reached.

The study is not intended to shoot down activity trackers, just to highlight the different impacts, both positive and negative, that these can have on users. Our perception of activity trackers is slowly but surely changing, likening to a “part of ourselves”, the user can define what place and what role they will have in their life.

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