At last year’s AdTech conference in San Francisco I listened to a keynote and the speaker was wearing a Nike Fuelband. That was the first time I heard about wearable technology that monitors every step you take. Literally.
Then at the beginning of the year I researched activity trackers, how they compare to each other and what’s coming on the market. The design of the Jawbone wristband got my attention, but I ended up pre-ordering the Fitbit Flex instead. Even though not even on the market at the time, this tracker – an improvement of the Fitbit One that was a clip-on pedometer – got the best reviews.
I received my new fashion statement end of May and my life has changed ever since. Not only does it monitor my steps per day, it compares it to the set goal and happily starts vibrating once achieved.
Side note: It came with the default setting of 10,000 steps and even though I changed this to 8,000 I’m still having a hard time hitting that goal during week days.
It links to your phone where you can use the app to alter you goals, monitor your calorie intake and how many you’ve burned, calculate calories burned through sports activities, water intake etc. There is some work involved since you have to log everything you eat and drink. But it is then quickly turned into numbers and statistics. It even monitors how much you sleep! Set it to sleep mode when going to bed and tell the device you are awake in the morning (by just tapping on it). A few seconds later you see your sleep pattern in the app. It’ll show how long you’ve slept and how often you were restless or even awake during the night. And if you want to get a more detailed analysis of your sleep pattern, there’s an option to buy a detailed report online.
Greatly motivated by this device, I find myself walking around the block before going to bed, happily taking the steps wherever I can avoid the elevator and even run more when playing tennis! Yay! As someone whose daily life revolves around looking at data and how it applies to real-world decision-making, I can’t help but appreciate a human digital device, backed by analytics, that so immediately changes behavior. What a world!
PS — And if it’s not enough for us to track ourselves, how about tracking our pets! Check out this article and start tracking your dog.
Frauke Cast
Just Media, Inc.
