Fit Bit Paranoia

This week I thought I dive into how we are using technology (and how it's using us) to facilitate our health.

Recently I stopped using a smartphone. I wanted to do a personal experiment with how I felt without being tethered to the internet at all times. I still, of course, use the internet. I don’t see how we can ever go back to a way of life that doesn't include the internet outside of some cultural collapse. I have no interest in feeding any trendy doomsday fantasy my mental energy. I also have no interest in being a conscious outlier. Denying new technologies won't prevent whatever Luddite way of life I'm clinging to from being pulled from my grasps. Best to just let go and accept technological evolution.

However, I do want to understand how I am using the internet and more importantly how the internet is using me. I don't see how I can set my own boundaries with these new realities and truly comprehend how they are affecting me if I don’t take some time to abstain or restrict myself from them for some time. Sort of an elimination diet. While it has not been a long enough time for me to make any conclusions about what my best practices should be concerning technology, this digital diet has got me thinking about technology. So I thought this week I share some thoughts about Fitbit, step-counting apps, and other forms of digital wellness tools.

It has never been easier tor people to keep track of our biodata. Our exact heart rate, sleep patterns, how many steps we took, at what elevation, and so on are all easily accessible for anyone with a smartphone. That's about 3 billion people as of writing this and will most likely increase. I certainly see how this can be empowering. I’m sure using these technologies have health benefits. Even at my most cynical I acknowledge the companies that provide these products to us have a financial interest in keeping us healthy since the longer we live, the longer we are their consumers. I also assume many people who are designing these products do indeed want to perform altruistic services as well. It generally feels good to help out people. But it is comforting to know that the incentive structure of companies providing these tools favors some aspect of our well being. That we are not solely relying on the kindness of strangers.

That said I do have some reservations about using these types of products. My first caution or paranoid thought, depending on how you pronounce tomato, is that we are collectively giving away so many data points about what makes us us. There seem to be consolidations of power that are happening right now that have long past any historical precedent. Could any monarch of the past know exactly where all their subjects were at any given time, or what interested them? History is littered with tyrants but none of them had drones. Now we live in a world where we can identify people by their heartbeat, or cardiac signature. This makes me a bit wary of not just biodata, but all the data we are giving way in exchange for free services.

There are less dystopian concerns about biodata strip mining though. The more we know about any object the more we can manipulate that object. If a tech entity has access to our cardiac rhythm it will be able to guess with a high chance of accuracy when we tend to have our heart rate spike. Perhaps a good time to send us a triggering pop up ad. Even if certain data points can not be exploited today they could be tomorrow, with tomorrow's technologies.

But, maybe I’m wearing the tin foil a bit tight. Goggle said they weren't going to be evil, right. Let's assume that is true, and pretend the internet wasn't created by military intelligence.

Can we get something valuable out of sharing our biodata, If google or apple or whoever is providing these free or cheap services can milk value out of all these data points, then we can certainly use them to our benefit as well. Data has intrinsic value. Information is power as people say. The more information we have about ourselves the more empowered we are to tailor our life around our ideals and goals. We can use these tools to learn when the precise results of our routines in order to craft optimal health.

That said I do think when we use Fitbits or step counting, or whatever new tech trinket, we risk losing the felt connection to our health. We become more adept at using a non-intuitive, sort of foreign language to expand our consciousness about health. We talk about walking 10,000 steps as if we have an intuitive idea of what that means. Does anyone know what a “step” is? One foot or two feet, or perhaps half the length of your foot multiplied by pi. Does it matter if we are stepping up a hill or on flat ground? Yet we are supposed to take 10,000 of them. Everyday. Regardless of the now mainstream medical knowledge that if we don’t diversify our movement routine or employ muscle confusion we will have diminishing results from our movement. Our bodies will adjust to 100000 steps as its normal and will figure out the most efficient way of performing that particular task. This is of course just one example of how we can miss ideas in the translation from a spreadsheet type language to our more instinctual ways of knowing when we have moved enough, or not.

And although I may be harsh on these new technologies I do ant to say find it inspiring that so many people are trying to either reconnect or deepen their connection to their health. There is plenty of talk about raising our consciousness or being more mindful. If this does not pertain to our own health our own biodata whether in the form of graphs or felt experience, then what does it mean? What could be a higher state of consciousness for any organism than an awareness of how to be more alive. If strapping a monitor around your wrist gets you moving then that should be celebrated even if I'm a bit cautious.

Caveat emptor

Anthony Bruni