"I'll be the first person to admit that fitness trackers can be helpful tools. But I've also written extensively about how they can unintentionally hurt your health. Streaks and oversimplified fitness gamification are often misguided, anxiety-inducing features. I'll probably go blue in the face ranting about how wellness and medical features are not the same thing. Lately, I've been concerned with a phrase I keep hearing from consumers and company reps alike: "getting credit.""
"After a hearty Fourth of July feast, my in-laws suggested a "family fart walk" to unleash our digestive demons. Given that our pants were about to split and there was still peach cobbler waiting in the fridge, the idea was enthusiastically received by all. But when we were out the door, my sister-in-law paused. Her Apple Watch was out of juice. "Damn," she said, "Now I won't get credit." My eye twitched."
Fitness trackers can be helpful tools while also unintentionally harming health through anxiety-inducing features. Streaks and oversimplified gamification often produce misguided incentives that prioritize metrics over well-being. Consumers increasingly talk about "getting credit" for activity, which can drive behavior more toward satisfying device algorithms than meaningful movement. Battery life and automatic tracking influence participation and create pressure to log activity. Companies respond to demand for recognition by expanding automatic activity tracking, reinforcing the credit mindset. Wellness features and medical features are distinct, and conflating them can mislead users and worsen health outcomes.
Read at The Verge
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