You feel your wrist buzz as your fitbit notifies you that you’ve met your 10,000 step goal for the day. Because of this, the overwhelming feeling of accomplishment and pride consumes you and the fitness addiction begins.
Fitness trackers such as the Fitbit, Garmin Vivofit and the Microsoft Band are all wrist-wearing-mechanisms that are traditionally thought to promote a healthy lifestyle for its users. Taking a closer look, the technology changes the way in which the brain processes physical activity.
Users argue the importance of reaching a 10,000 step goal every day because it creates a healthy body; but using a fitness tracker daily can mentally damage users as it changes the way the brain perceives workout.
What the users fail to realize is that you don’t own your fitbit; your fitbit owns you.
Rather than help the user, the device can make users feel as if daily activities are only worth value when wearing the tracker. Forgetting to wear the device can make users feel as if the extra steps aren’t even real because they don’t stand for anything. Everyday activities like getting out of bed, walking to the fridge, or taking a stroll through the parking lot become useless in the minds of everyday Fitbit wearers.
While the 10,000 step goal could help an overweight person get into shape, active Fitbit users will not experience much physical change. According to research published by Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 10,000 steps is more than the average person walks in one day. This amount of exercise alone will not necessarily help a user lose weight, but rather just maintain their body type. Not to mention that the Fitbit does not track your activity while using the elliptical, swimming, or the activity you do during your yoga class.
As Americans living in a first world country, we have become technological cyborgs who need an artificial reward to make us move. Cell phones and Fitbits all contribute to this need, but we should be able to exercise without any praise or reward except for bettering our bodies and minds. Instead we all live for that pat on the back from our devices. For some it is the most exciting part of the day.
The business of selling new technology is all about improving the old, outdated and obsolete methods of the last device; meaning that unless you spend hundreds of dollars per year tracking your daily activities and keeping them up to date, then your step goal might not be as accurate as you think.