Wearable WearableFitness Fitness Technology Technology andDigital DigitalAddiction Addiction and Author: Kyra Lee
Author: Kyra Lee Page 1
Wearable Fitness Technology and Digital Addiction
Lee
Table of Contents Executive Summary ................................................................................................................................................. 3 Problem Statement ................................................................................................................................................. 3 Introduction to Wearable Fitness Technology ........................................................................................................ 3 Background information ..................................................................................................................................... 3 Impacts on Healthcare and Wellness .................................................................................................................. 4 Digital Addiction ...................................................................................................................................................... 4 What is Digital Addiction? ................................................................................................................................... 4 Digital Addiction Symptoms ................................................................................................................................ 4 Wearable fitness devices and DA ........................................................................................................................ 5 User-end Factors ................................................................................................................................................. 6 Software and Product Design as a Possible Solution .............................................................................................. 7 Labelling .............................................................................................................................................................. 7 Regulatory Features ............................................................................................................................................ 7 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................................... 8
Page 2
Wearable Fitness Technology and Digital Addiction
Lee
Executive Summary
Wearable Fitness Devices are popular gadgets many use to track their physical wellness progress and maintain a healthy lifestyle. These devices aim to bring positive behavioural changes by encouraging you to stay active and monitor your health. Research shows that some behavioural strategies these devices employ contribute to Digital Addiction (hereinafter referred to as DA). Even though not all wearable fitness device users exhibit addictive behaviours, some users are more vulnerable to addiction due to their personalities and medical history. Therefore, there is a need for DA-aware software design and architecture that accommodate those who are more vulnerable. Producers and consumers must work together to combat the issue of DA.
Problem Statement To help you establish a fitness habit, Wearable Fitness Devices are designed to induce repeated behaviours. Some behavioural strategies Wearable Fitness Devices use to stimulate repeated behaviours contribute to DA. Since DA has roots in software engineering, there is a need for changes in product and software design to minimize it.
Introduction to Wearable Fitness Technology Background information Wearable devices are gadgets that can be worn on the body as an accessory. Many of these gadgets have sensors for connecting with the internet for data exchange. Fitness trackers are one of these wearable devices that help monitor and offer insights into your daily activity levels and vital signs. These devices often appear as wristbands, smartwatches, earbuds, clip-on items, and rings. Aside from their hardware forms, you can also install fitness tracking applications and connect your fitness devices to your smartphone or computer. This enables different devices to work together for you to receive notifications and messages on both devices. As the world transitions from 4G to 5G and consumers continue to increase their awareness about fitness, the wearable fitness technology industry is expected to continue to grow. Right now, smartwatches and fitness trackers are the most prominent wearable devices on the market and are projected to reach market revenue of almost $18 billion US dollars by 2024 (“Fitness�).
Page 3
Wearable Fitness Technology and Digital Addiction
Lee
Figure 1 Projected revenue in the wearable fitness technology segment
Impacts on Healthcare and Wellness So how do these wearable devices impact individual healthcare and wellness? According to Business Insider Intelligence research, wearable fitness technology encourages behaviours that reduce the need for hospital visits and readmissions due to poorly managed personal health (Phaneuf). Adoption and integration of wearable technology in the health and medical industry have also been increasing, as more healthcare providers begin using information derived from wearable fitness devices to help improve individual and population health (Phaneuf). Dr John Moore, Fitbit’s Medical Director, found from his research that the key for behavioural changes is through experiences — people learn to make better health choices when they see results from their actions (“The New Behavioral”). Wearable Fitness Devices are designed to help people be more aware of their wellness by encouraging them to take actions. 75% of Wearable Fitness Devices users agree that their gadgets help them engage with their health (Phaneuf). They encourage you to actively improve your health through reminders and uplifting messages.
These seemingly harmless notifications, however, have the power to cause Digital Addiction.
Digital Addiction What is Digital Addiction? DA refers to the significant dependency on digital products (Alrobai et al, 112). Recent studies are revealing more and more similarities between behavioural (i.e. digital) and substance-based (i.e. drug and alcohol) addictions (Berthon et al, 452).
Digital Addiction Symptoms Some symptoms of DA caused by wearable fitness devices include (Cherry and Gans): increasing workout lengths to reach higher achievements on the device feeling anxious or upset when separated with the device feeling like you’re not in control of your actions unable to stop using the device excessively even if your behaviours upset you feeling ashamed for not reaching your fitness goals interference with responsibilities
your
social
life
and
Page 4
Wearable Fitness Technology and Digital Addiction Recent studies show that people suffering from DA have a higher tendency to suffer from (Ali et al, 198): depression reduced creativity and productivity lack of sleep disconnection from reality
Wearable fitness devices and DA
Lee Gamification of fitness is the use of game-like reward, penalty, competition, and goal-based systems to increase engagement in fitness activities (Zhao et al, 234). This appeals to the part of human psychology that stimulates happiness when you complete a fitness goal. Most wearable fitness devices turn your physical activities into quantifiable measurements, like steps, and use different features to incentivize you to move more.
Addiction is a complex issue with a wide variety of factors, and wearable fitness technology is one of the factors that could contribute to it. According to a survey released by Fluent, an advertising technology company, around 80 per cent of Apple Watch users use the device for its fitness tracking features (Whitney). The fitness features of wearable technology attract many buyers because they allow you to feel accomplished and in control of your health.
Fitbit, for example, designed more than 100 badges to recognize a variety of achievements. Fitbit’s daily-steps badges range from “boat shoes” (5000 steps/day) to “Olympian sandals” (100,000 steps/day), and their daily-floors badges range from “happy hill” (10 floors/day) to “rainbow” (700 floors/day) (Kosecki). These badges were designed to help you set “smaller, specific, measurable, and attainable” goals (Kosecki). To further encourage you to exercise, Fitbit even allows you to compete with your family and friends on who exercises the most (“What should I”).
You use wearable fitness devices because you want to change who you are — your fitness narratives, behaviours, and attitudes — to ultimately reach self-actualization (feeling like you’ve achieved full potential). Wearable fitness devices help you get that feeling through the gamification of fitness.
According to Natasha Dow Schull, an anthropologist at New York University, wearable fitness devices help you break yourself down to granular digital bits by tracking your steps and vital signs, which satisfies your demand for more information about yourself (Barton).
How do wearable fitness devices contribute to DA?
Figure 2 Gamification of fitness Page 5
Wearable Fitness Technology and Digital Addiction This not only conditions you to fulfil fitness goals but to also seek relief and validation from them (Barton). The constant notifications they send out also force you to check your activities and health data more often than necessary. This is why you feel proud when your wearable sends you a “good job!” message and keep setting higher fitness goals, and why you feel ashamed and have an urge to get up and move when it sends you a reminder to do so. Using a wearable to track fitness, you have outsourced decision-making to your devices.
Lee Since humans tend to seek social approval, some users find themselves altering behaviours to an extreme to fulfil expectations from their devices and maximize positive social feedback (Berthon et al, 454). Nick Harding, a self-proclaimed “Fitbit addict”, says that even though he is constantly in pain, he refuses to rest so he can reach his fitness goals and please his wearable fitness device. The biggest problem is that such an obsession with wearable fitness devices is often masked as “healthy, active living”, which enables the continuation of addictive behaviours.
User-end Factors Various media reports are suggesting that wearable fitness technology has the dangerous ability to trigger DA and disordered eating practices. Some users are more vulnerable to such negative impacts of wearable fitness technology because of their and medical history or diagnosis.
Figure 3 Wearable fitness device connects with a smartphone
Dr Leslie Sim, a psychologist and expert on exercise addiction, argues that allowing the devices to make your decisions makes you more compulsive and less intuitive about your physical activity and diet (Alter, 114). Addiction is the mental state of automatic mindlessness, and you are addicted to your wearable fitness device when exercise becomes mindless and automatic. Dr. Sim points out that his patients with exercise addiction report feeling a constant need to check their wearable fitness devices and exercise as these devices turn information about users into mere numbers (Alter, 159). Wearable fitness devices promote self-tracking practices and the culture of the quantified self — attempting self-knowledge through numbers (Lupton, 2). This is dangerous because numbers contribute to addiction. The features designed to incentivize you to exercise more create an illusion of empowerment, which promotes toxic and addictive attitudes towards exercising.
Figure 4 A person running on loop
Individuals with Eating Disorders are reported to have more strict and perfectionistic mindsets on weight and related numbers (i.e. calories and steps), and often work compulsively towards achieving unrealistic numerical goals (Simpson and Mazzeo). Since wearable fitness devices quantify behaviours into numbers for health assessment, they can trigger an addiction to monitoring food consumption and physical activities (Simpson and Mazzeo). The competition features in some devices also encourage addictive behaviours towards exercising by baiting you to ignore your bodily limits and other negative consequences to rank at the top. Users prone to competitiveness and perfectionistic behaviours are more likely to get addicted to their wearable fitness devices. Page 6
Figure 5 Vision of a DA-aware software design
Software and Product Design as a Possible Solution Research in behavioural psychology and neuroscience suggests that digital experiences like wearables are purposefully designed for compulsive use. The design principles of a wearable fitness device foster addiction by reinforcing repeated behaviours with rewards to maximize usage (Berthon et al, 454). Some software engineers acknowledge that, although some users have characteristics that make them more vulnerable to compulsive behaviours, DA has roots in software design and they should aim to accommodate these users in the product’s design (Alrobai et al, 113). The main difference between digital and other addictive mediums is that software can help you make informed and conscious decisions on your usage patterns. Like accessibility and universal designs, wearable fitness technology should have DA-aware architecture and design to minimize and prevent addictive usage.
Labelling One way to make wearable fitness technology more DA-aware is through labelling. Warning labels would not eliminate DA, but they could help you make more informed and conscious decisions and reduce the automaticity that often contributes to addiction (Berthon et al, 457). These labels should inform users of the possible dangers from the behavioural strategies (i.e. regular notifications and cue-reward features) used in the software to avoid triggering users vulnerable to compulsive behaviours.
Regulatory Features Wearable fitness software should introduce a self-regulatory feature that encourages you to configure the settings for feedback, reminders, and usage. These devices should be transparent by tracking your usage and alerting you when your behaviours suggest a risk of addiction or unhealthy behaviours. You can opt-in for a lock-out scheme that would prevent them from engaging in activities despite detrimental behaviours. When
Page 7
Wearable Fitness Technology and Digital Addiction
Lee
the device detects possible addictive behaviours, they should discontinue their fitness-tracking functions and encourage you to seek professional help. To be DA-aware in their architecture and design, devices should go beyond recording your physique-related information to also record your personality and medical information (i.e. your competitiveness, obsessive tendencies, eating habits). This would allow their predictive algorithms to generate healthier and more beneficial goals that are not just numerical.
Conclusion The market trends and continuous growth in the wearable fitness technology industry suggest that these devices are here to stay. As such, it is important to consider users’ mental processes when designing wearable devices. Behavioural strategies like regular notifications, gamification of fitness, and rewardbased encouragement are used to encourage repeated actions, which contributes to compulsive and toxic behaviours. These devices are designed to convert user behaviour and fitness levels into numbers for health assessment. The numerical nature of the data could lead to DA, making users behave automatically and mindlessly. DA is a complex issue that is not caused solely by wearable fitness technology. Other factors, like a user’s personality and medical history, also contribute to addiction to wearable fitness devices. DA is a growing and concerning social issue, and the wearable fitness technology industry should develop DA-aware architecture and design to minimize and prevent addictive usage. Wearable fitness devices aim to help users make better and more conscious fitness choices. So, the software should be designed to help users self-regulate and prevent DA.
Page 8
Wearable Fitness Technology and Digital Addiction
Lee
Works Cited What Should I Know about Fitbit Challenges? Fitbit Help, help.fitbit.com/articles/en_US/Help_article/1531. Ali, Raian, et al. The Emerging Requirement for Digital Addiction Labels. Requirements Engineering: Foundation for Software Quality Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2015, pp. 198–213., doi:10.1007/978-3-319-16101-3_13. Alrobai, Amen, et al. Digital Addiction: A Requirements Engineering Perspective. Requirements Engineering: Foundation for Software Quality Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2014, pp. 112–118., doi:10.1007/978-3-319-05843-6_9. Barton, Adriana. Tracking down the Root of Our Self-Tracking Obsession. The Globe and Mail, 23 Feb. 2017, www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health-and-fitness/fitness/happier-and-healthier-getting-at-the-root of-our-self-trackingobsession/article34120896/. Berthon, Pierre, et al. Addictive De-Vices: A Public Policy Analysis of Sources and Solutions to Digital Addiction. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, vol. 38, no. 4, Oct. 2019, pp. 451–468, doi:10.1177/0743915619859852. Fitness - Worldwide: Statista Market Forecast. Statista, May 2020, www.statista.com/outlook/313/100/fitness/worldwide. Free-Photos. Person Using a Smart Watch. Pixabay, 3 July 2015. https://pixabay.com/photos/smartwatch gadget-technology-smart-828786/ Harding, Nick. Constant Pain and No Rest Days: Confessions of a FitBit Addict. The Telegraph, Telegraph Media Group, 25 Mar. 2019, www.telegraph.co.uk/health-fitness/body/constant-pain-no-rest-days confessions-fitbit-addict/. Hoffman, David Lynn, et al. The Fitbit Addiction: Will This Disruption Last? Journal of Marketing Development and Competitiveness, vol. 11, no. 4, 2017, doi:10.33423/jmdc.v11i4.1503. Holst, Arne. Wearable Technology. Statista, 9 Mar. 2020, www.statista.com/topics/1556/wearable technology/. Kosecki, Danielle. Presenting the Official List of Fitbit Badges. How Many Do You Have? Fitbit Blog, Fitbit, 14 July 2018, blog.fitbit.com/fitbit-badges/. Liu, Shanhong. Fitness & Activity Tracker - Statistics & Facts. Statista, 22 May 2019, www.statista.com/topics/4393/fitness-and-activity-tracker/.
Page 9
Wearable Fitness Technology and Digital Addiction
Lee
Phaneuf, Alicia. Latest Trends in Medical Monitoring Devices and Wearable Health Technology. Business Inside, Business Insider, 31 Jan. 2020, www.businessinsider.com/wearable-technology-healthcare medical-devices. Schreiber, Katherine. Do Fitness Trackers Promote Eating Disorders? Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, 15 Feb. 2017, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-truth-about-exercise-addiction/201702/do fitness-trackers-promote-eating-disorders. Simpson, Courtney C., and Suzanne E. Mazzeo. Calorie Counting and Fitness Tracking Technology: Associations with Eating Disorder Symptomatology. Eating Behaviors, vol. 26, 2017, pp. 89–92., doi:10.1016/j.eatbeh.2017.02.002. Smith, Mark. A Fitbit Fanatic's Cry for Help: I'm Addicted to Steps. The Washington Post, WP Company, 11 May 2015,
www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2015/05/11/a-fitbit-fanatics-cry-for
help/. The New Behavioral Change Model. Fitbit Health Solutions, 17 July 2018. Fitbit. Zhao, Zhao, et al. Gamification of Exercise and Fitness Using Wearable Activity Trackers. Proceedings of the 10th International Symposium on Computer Science in Sports (ISCSS) Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, 2015, pp. 233–240., doi:10.1007/978-3-319-24560-7_30. Subiyanto, Ketut. Young Asian Woman Using Devices for Fitness in Park. Pexels. https://www.pexels.com/photo/young-asian-woman-using-devices-for-fitness-in-park-4428993/
Page 10