More and more people wear a smart watch on their wrist. These smartwatches promise to make us fitter, healthier and more aware. It measures everything from steps to heart rate and sleep, helping you live a healthier life. But can these tools also be a very good thing?
For many users of so-called preventive health technologies (PHTs), such as smartwatches, it starts with a clear goal: lose weight, sleep better, or exercise more. From a recent study published in the journal Consumer Affairs MagazineHowever, it seems that the way people use their smartwatch varies greatly depending on what they want to achieve. Some people use their smartwatch as a tool to teach themselves healthy habits, while others become obsessed with the data the watches provide.
Search
To understand how smartwatches contribute to health and well-being, the researchers conducted in-depth interviews with 30 users of PHTs. Participants ranged in age from 16 to 78 years and used different types of wearable devices, such as smartwatches and apps, to track their health. The research focused on how users set their health goals, how intensely they use their devices, and how this affects their health.
The researchers applied thematic analysis to learn how users engaged in their health goals. Based on the interviews, they discovered four different ways people use their smartwatch. This ranged from moderate and positive engagement to obsessive and even harmful interactions.
Oversharing
People who desperately need data to achieve their health goals run the risk of placing too much value on what their smartwatch says. This can make them obsessed with performance, even when they suffer from physical complaints. This happens, for example, when people track their calories, steps or sleep every day and feel guilty if the numbers aren’t good.
“I started to become obsessed with it. I weighed myself every day and went to the app every day to see if I lost fat,” says a 27-year-old woman who participated in the study. She used her smart watch to monitor her weight, but eventually became focused Hard on the numbers she said she struggled with mentally and another participant admitted that despite the knee pain, he continued to walk 10,000 steps a day because his watch said so.
For some people it is a very positive thing
Although oversharing sometimes leads to negative consequences, research also shows that some users actually benefit from using their PHT. For these people, the device is a powerful incentive to improve their health and performance. The big difference is that people in this group do not become obsessed with numbers, but rather learn lessons that they can then apply without PHT’s help.
One 31-year-old participant reported that he uses his smartwatch to closely monitor his eating habits, which has helped him successfully achieve his weight goals. But after a while he stopped because he said he no longer needed help. “Now I know what the benefits of each food item are, because I have been using the app for a long time. Now it’s all on my mind and I don’t need the app anymore.
The dual effect of smart watches
Smart watches and other health technologies can therefore be beneficial or harmful to our well-being. On the one hand, it helps us live a healthier life by making us aware of our behavior and motivating us to achieve goals. On the other hand, too much focus on numbers can lead to stress, self-criticism, and unhealthy behavior, such as exercising too much or eating too little to meet the “right” numbers. Therefore, conscious use seems to be the key to success.
