These days we are seeing an activity tracker on every other wrist, mostly male. Wristwatches have given way to activity trackers. But do they really help in maintaining a healthy active lifestyle or is it just another "all ado about nothing"? You decide.
Last December, my friend bought me a Fitbit from the US. By then I was into running and owned a TomTom. I tried telling my friend that I won't be needing another activity tracker to no avail. I started using it and to be honest, started liking it. It was lightweight compared to TomTom and fit neatly on my wrist. And it was better at tracking and reminding activities.
One can set goals like the number of active minutes (exercise), the number of steps (activity) and the number of floors so on and so forth. The most important of these goals is the step goal, you can have a step goal for the day and for the hour. Fitbit will vibrate very discretely on the wrist as a reminder towards the end of the hour if you have not met your hourly goal.
Which is all well and fine, except for the addiction. What addiction, you ask? The day I forget my Fitbit at home, I am totally demotivated to step away from my desk for the entire day. What is the use of any activity if you cannot record it and get an appreciation for it? (Oh, yeah, the little thing vibrates into a small dance when a goal is met). Another disadvantage, there is no concept of carrying forward. That is if you exceed your target steps for this hour, the excess won't be added to the next hour. I started to time my strolls to my colleagues' desks, to the pantry and even to the restroom according to where I was on my step status. I started hating meetings which went beyond 45 mins since that would mean I would not be able to meet my hourly goal. Come to think of it, that might be the reason for many walking out of these meetings feigning an important phone call.
All was going on fine, I was hooked and was feeling great about myself, not that it made any dent in my weight. It just gave me a feeling of achievement and wellbeing.
Then, all hell broke loose. A friend added me to his friends' list. Till then I was happy with my progress and my weekly status emails. Now, these emails had an added statistic and it always put my friend in the first place and me in the second. How can that be? I always thought myself to be more active than him and most importantly I go for morning walks regularly and he doesn't. So how can he achieve more than me? After a bit of sleuthing, I realised he wears his Fitbit 24x7 (except when in the shower). Now that set me thinking. You see I don't have my Fitbit on when I am at home, only for my walks and office. One day out of curiosity I wore it the entire day, I clocked an additional 2k steps. Wow, so many days wasted wallowing over the missed daily target, when I actually achieved it!!!! Can I add these steps? Alas no, one can add exercises but not steps, unless you convert the steps into walks (1K steps ~ 1k walk). But this bit of cheating also didn't help, he was still in the first place. Reason? I don't have my Fitbit on over weekends. Imagine the loss.......
Last December, my friend bought me a Fitbit from the US. By then I was into running and owned a TomTom. I tried telling my friend that I won't be needing another activity tracker to no avail. I started using it and to be honest, started liking it. It was lightweight compared to TomTom and fit neatly on my wrist. And it was better at tracking and reminding activities.
One can set goals like the number of active minutes (exercise), the number of steps (activity) and the number of floors so on and so forth. The most important of these goals is the step goal, you can have a step goal for the day and for the hour. Fitbit will vibrate very discretely on the wrist as a reminder towards the end of the hour if you have not met your hourly goal.
Which is all well and fine, except for the addiction. What addiction, you ask? The day I forget my Fitbit at home, I am totally demotivated to step away from my desk for the entire day. What is the use of any activity if you cannot record it and get an appreciation for it? (Oh, yeah, the little thing vibrates into a small dance when a goal is met). Another disadvantage, there is no concept of carrying forward. That is if you exceed your target steps for this hour, the excess won't be added to the next hour. I started to time my strolls to my colleagues' desks, to the pantry and even to the restroom according to where I was on my step status. I started hating meetings which went beyond 45 mins since that would mean I would not be able to meet my hourly goal. Come to think of it, that might be the reason for many walking out of these meetings feigning an important phone call.
All was going on fine, I was hooked and was feeling great about myself, not that it made any dent in my weight. It just gave me a feeling of achievement and wellbeing.
Then, all hell broke loose. A friend added me to his friends' list. Till then I was happy with my progress and my weekly status emails. Now, these emails had an added statistic and it always put my friend in the first place and me in the second. How can that be? I always thought myself to be more active than him and most importantly I go for morning walks regularly and he doesn't. So how can he achieve more than me? After a bit of sleuthing, I realised he wears his Fitbit 24x7 (except when in the shower). Now that set me thinking. You see I don't have my Fitbit on when I am at home, only for my walks and office. One day out of curiosity I wore it the entire day, I clocked an additional 2k steps. Wow, so many days wasted wallowing over the missed daily target, when I actually achieved it!!!! Can I add these steps? Alas no, one can add exercises but not steps, unless you convert the steps into walks (1K steps ~ 1k walk). But this bit of cheating also didn't help, he was still in the first place. Reason? I don't have my Fitbit on over weekends. Imagine the loss.......
So nice to read your post after a long time. I totally agree with everything you’ve said here. The key is to stay physically AND mentally active to age well.
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