Auxiliary instruments and performance monitoring significantly increase the likelihood of achieving the desired outcome. But as the first generation to track even the smallest of steps, we only learn about the negative aspects of this awareness and learn how to deal with risks.
In 2019, you can count everything: the standard Apple Health app or Google Fit will show you how many steps have been taken. MyFintessPal - how many calories you've eaten, Waterlogged - how many liters you've drunk, and Pee&See - will help you track how your body feels about it. In Runkeeper - how many kilometers he ran, in Strong: Workout Log - how many kilograms he lifted. At Forest, how long he worked continuously, and at Sleep Cycle, how many hours he slept. Bookmate - how many books I read, how much time I spent on it, and how many hours it took my friends. In Visited, how many countries he visited, and in Zenmoney, how much he spent on it. Countdown - how many days have passed since that trip, how do you feel about Daylio? If you're upset, meditate with Oak and find out how many hours and how many days you've already spent meditating.
According to SensorTower, all of the above applications were downloaded about 3,845,000 times in August alone. Almost 4 million people are now watching what they do and how they do it. And according to rough estimates of such applications are already about 200 thousand. To this data should be added users of smart watches like FitBit, rugs like Withings Sleep, which control sleep and snoring, and other devices.
For those who are already used to keeping track of their goals, spending and health, this is just a natural evolution of the usual tools. For others - a new world of numbers and a game with data about yourself.
Who is he - the user of the tracker?
You have one big bonus to keep track of your performance. As the research shows, monitoring the progress and execution of tasks increases the chances of their successful completion. Even better, if the control takes place in public and is fixed somewhere. This helps to determine the starting point and set the right pace. Apps help to focus attention on behavior, get rid of illusions, and an internal social network adds responsibility.
The goal is to run a marathon, Nike+ or RunKeeper - a great tool for this. Put on weight or lose weight - MyFitnessPal. All the instructions are ready, all you have to do is to do, track and do it again.
However, statistics show that such rational arguments are not the main reason why people download trackers or buy devices. All users can be divided into 5 groups:
1. Self-medicating;
2. those who use a tool for self-discipline;
3. those for whom the tracker is a tool for work and control over themselves;
4. Users who want to feel part of a group;
5. Those for whom the tracker is an entertainment. Motivation, by which a person downloaded the application or bought a smart watch, largely determines how he will use it in the future and whether there are risks.
Is the power in the hands of a person or technology?
In 2016, CNN conducted a small survey of women who actively used smart watches. The cherished figure of 10,000 steps pushed us to move and destroyed the misconception that the road from home to the subway and back was enough to reach the daily norm. 90% started moving more often, checking the data more often. When a couple of hundred steps were missing, we chose a long road. Many users noted that over time, they no longer controlled their steps, but watches controlled their lives. The decisions made were dictated by the number on the clock, and the desire to reach the established norm was replaced by internal pressure.
The gadget on the arm quickly became an irreplaceable part of life for them, almost all of the respondents took off their watches only to charge and put on again quickly. Over time, interest naturally disappears, but the data shows that whether interest is lost or not, people get used to the watch, and get annoyed when it is lost or absent.
Gamification of life
Numerical indicators are only a small part of the tracker ecosystem, many of them push people to action by gamification of the process and creation of community. Ran his first 5 kilometers, get a new badge. Every day during the week I meditated - the tree in the application became even higher.
Gamification is directed on that to involve the user, to push to act, and hence to use service. From a psychological point of view, gamification is a well studied process. Motivation to action grows from the release of dopamine, and from the competitive element. Each new award, new level, new line in the overall rating - a mini achievement that pushes a person to join the game over and over again.
For example, using Apple Watch, you can earn awards like "Perfect Week/Month" "The goal is reached by 200%", set records, participate in Challenges, compete with friends. Sometimes you don't have to move fully to win. The Internet is already full of cheats on how to trick sensors, what settings to set to accurately achieve the goal. To show the maximum result by the number of calories burned, it is better to set the male sex, and choose a larger weight. If you have not achieved your activity goal, you should change your time zone and use extra time to complete the regulations.
I will chase after awards and similar virtual achievements called "badge hunt", and all kinds of companies integrate gamification into their work. The market for gamification-based applications is expected to grow by 30% by 2024.
Become the best version of yourself
The health-tech industry is developing especially fast, which includes calorie and macro nutrient trackers. Among the devices, physical indicators trackers make up the majority of all the presented ones. Morning Consult research shows that 34% of adults (18-65+) already use at least one application to control their health. The most active group, 46% of those surveyed, is 18-29 years old. Some of the users, about 8%, are asked to do so by their attending physicians. However, sometimes the result is the opposite of what is desired.
In some cases, the use of calorie and weight trackers is associated with eating disorders. Studies show that about 75% of people with eating disorders used applications like MyFitnessPal. The data are the same for both women and men. A survey of men with eating disorders shows that more than 50% used trackers, and about 40% claim that the application was one of the factors influencing the deterioration of the situation.
Alexandra Lenicheva, a leading blog about a body-positive view of the body, shared her opinion: "The application does not in itself cause a PPR, but depends on the genetic predisposition and basic psychological characteristics of the person and his natural stability. A huge number of users of applications are already suffering from orthorexia - over and above the concern that it is possible to eat what is not possible, the composition of the food, the usefulness of food. This is a relatively unknown RPP, which is characteristic of, for example, CVHs, cheese eaters, who are too focused on the "correctness" of food.
Devices and applications lead to the fact that people rely on numbers and stop feeling their body. A huge number of factors contribute to the deterioration of the psychological state. Strict control of what is eaten, calorie counting, and food weighing necessarily lead to an increase in anxiety and for some people become a step before or within disorders. It is worth noting that the disorder, which manifests itself against the background of the use of the application, can be any: anorexia, bulimia, sports bulimia - working off "sins" in the hall, bigorexia - obsessive desire to build muscle mass.
The problem with tracker applications and devices is identical to any other technology. We cannot escape from them, and the solution is to use them consciously.