Is It Time To Break-Up With Your Fitness Tracker?
Yin and yang. It’s a universal symbol that we’ve all seen before. It symbolises the philosophy that life is very non-dualistic.
In the good there is bad and in the bad there is good.
And information systems are no different. Yes, they have proved integral in the world of sports and fitness and for a long time it has been known that monitoring behaviours can impact positively on our lifestyles. But what happens when users begin to monitor too closely? When they become too obsessed? Too obsessed with the number of calories tracked on their app? Too obsessed with the calories burned or steps walked on their smart watch? What happens when the users can’t see past the numbers reflected back at them? What happens then?
Currently, smart watches and fitness trackers are the most successful fitness wearables in a market which continues to grow. In fact, it is expected to grow to a whopping 1.1 billion by 2022 (Holst, 2020). And it’s not hard to believe either, if you went to the park or the gym tomorrow you’d see nearly everyone would have a wearable on their wrist or a phone strapped to their arm. All the data you could ever want about your body and activity levels is only a tap or a swipe away. How convenient! However, when an individual’s life begins to revolve around this data, it is here within the problem lies.
Concerns have been raised over the potential these information technologies hold in triggering or exacerbating disordered eating behaviours and attitudes. The ease of instant access to these “health” metrics can cause a person to become fixated and to focus on unattainable illusions. According to psychotherapist Amanda Perl, “trackers can increase feelings of failure, self-loathing and feeling out of control”. It is hardly surprising that users feel this way when you can track every calorie, every step, every macronutrient… every percent of fat you have on your body… with ease. Meeting these targets, or staying under them as the case may be, becomes a way of quantifying self-worth for many individuals susceptible to these disordered behaviours concerning weight. Deviation from these targets can give rise to feelings of anxiety and guilt and even cause purging, such as excessive exercise or bulimia, as a way to mitigate any indulgence of calories. The feeling of failure induced in users by trackers, can push the individual to extreme lengths in order to feel like they have ‘succeeded’. It is, without doubt, a viscous cycle, inadvertently induced by information systems.
Another aspect which must be noted, is that trackers do not account for rest days or individual physical limitations. We’re told that we should walk 10,000 steps a day. The Fitbit app predefines this as your daily goal and the watch itself even beeps at ten to the hour if you haven’t done enough steps for that time period. But what about days when you feel ill or fatigued? When a woman is on her period and bent double with cramps, should she still be alerted that she’s been too idle and needs to increase her activity? Should she not indulge in an extra few calories to satisfy her hunger and cravings even though her MyFitnessPal app has said that she’s already hit her calorie limit for the day? Should a growing boy not eat another slice of toast for fear of going over a predefined, generalised calorific intake limit? Should a person who has played a football match the day before, still be expected to max out the activity rings on their Apple watch despite their fatigued and aching limbs? I think not. These trackers cannot account for individual circumstances and can induce guilt and anxiety for the perceived inability to continuously and consistently achieve targets.
With constant notifications reminding users to log their weight, to read the latest story on ‘Easy ways to Blast Belly Fat’, to move more etc, there’s no wonder why people are drove to the brink. Add to that the targeted ads concerning weight loss that are likely to appear when you use fitness tracking apps and wearables, and there really is no escaping the constant bombardment.
Of course there is no doubt that for many people, these devices work without fault and aid them in improving and maintaining their lifestyle. The want for quantifiable goals and objectives resonates with many people. But for others, the specific goals set out by these trackers, whether it be steps, calories etc, are detrimental.
Several personal accounts have been documented which share the author’s experiences about using tracking technology and the subsequent ED treatment that was required(Simpson and Mazzeo, 2017). The problem is so prevalent in today’s society that the term “techorexia” has been coined to describe the compulsive behaviour normalised by the popularity of health technology (Simpson and Mazzeo, 2017).
It is an unfortunate and deeply saddening example of yin and yang that is currently at play in the modern world of information systems and technology. I can only urge that if any of this blog resonated with you or reminded you of someone you know, then I implore that you seek help. The following helplines are available and can provide support, help, guidance and advice.
BodyWhys (Ireland) Helpline: (01) 210 7906
Email: Alex@bodywhys.ie
BeatEatingDisorders (UK) Helpline: 0808 801 0677
Studentline: 0808 801 0811
Youthline: 0808 801 0711
NEDA (US) Helpline Call or Text: (800) 931–2237
For Crisis situations text “NEDA” to 741741
And please remember that your weight or numbers do not define you. Here at Team Scotland, we hope that this post can boost awareness about the shortcomings of these particular information systems. Hopefully, we can be the catalyst that ignites, even one person’s journey, to getting the help they need and deserve. Look out for each other out there guys.
~Aoife
Biliography
Holst, A., 2020. Topic: Wearable technology. [online] Statista. Available at: <https://www.statista.com/topics/1556/wearable-technology/>
Simpson, C. and Mazzeo, S., 2017. Calorie counting and fitness tracking technology: Associations with eating disorder symptomatology. Eating Behaviors, 26, pp.89–92.
