A Little Bit of Fit

Fit Bit. Jawbone. Garmin. iWatch. Misfit Shine.
Fitness trackers are saturating the market, and consumers are eagerly purchasing their wares.

I have a confession. Part of me wants a fitness tracker, and another part of me loathes the very idea that they exist.

Let me explain.  I DO love physical activity. I personally engage in walking, running, biking, volleyball, strength training, and aerial silks. Moreover, I strongly advocate that other people should engage in physical activity. Not only is it advantageous for our physical health, but it is beneficial for our emotional and spiritual health as well. I believe that our contemporary culture is far too “heady” and that we become more grounded and connected when we engage physically.

I’m also aware that our current cultural arrangements make it easy to be sedentary. We sit at desks all day for our job. We work many hours so we don’t have time to be physical. We have cars that take us exactly where we need to go.  We are inundated with technology that mesmerizes us for hours at a time- Netflix, X-Box, Smart phones, iPads, etc.

Fitness trackers, therefore, encourage us to be physical. They remind us that we need to find breaks to walk around when sitting at our desks. They persuade us that we do not need to always drive to arrive at our location. They inspire us to work out daily when we would rather go home and watch TV. And they encourage us to stop consuming more calories than we burn.

So…there’s a part of me that wants a fitness tracker. Even though I’m already pretty active, I know that I can do better at driving my car less. I know that it would probably be beneficial to take more breaks during the workday to stretch and walk around. I would like to continue to maintain a steady weight. And…I’m gonna be honest…there’s a part of me that’s simply fascinated by the fact that fitness trackers exist, and that makes me want one. (Yes, the influence of American consumerism is certainly alive and well!)

However. (There is always, always a however! J ) There is also a part of me (and right now this is the larger part) that does not want anything to do with a fitness tracker.

Overall, I worry that fitness trackers and their numbers cultivate unhealthy obsessions. Should we work on being more physical? You bet we should. However, by quantifying our physicality, I’m worried that we stop enjoying activities for what they are, and we become more concerned with the final number that the activity will produce. Instead of enjoying a walk with a friend, for example, we start to think about how many steps it will add to our daily report.

Numbers, numbers, and more numbers

Moreover, I’m also concerned about the pressure we place on ourselves to reach a goal, and the potential guilt/shame that ensues if we do not reach it. Perhaps we simply had a lazy Sunday in which we just wanted to rest and binge watch Netflix. And we ordered pizza to boot. Because of our obsession with numbers, I’m worried of the guilty feelings that this might promote.  Obviously, a day like that would not yield the desired numbers, and I’m concerned that feelings of remorse will stop us from enjoying the simple pleasure of a lazy day. While I don’t think that we should have lazy days every day, I DO think that an occasional one is actually quite constructive.

Finally, I am also concerned about the “end goals” that are pushing us to track our fitness. I think that fitness trackers are often used primarily as a means of losing weight. And I am simply exasperated with “losing weight” as a goal due to its narrow, one-dimensional, superficial focus.

I want people to engage physically because they enjoy it. I want people to engage physically because they want to increase their strength and endurance. I want people to engage physically because it’s simply a habitual part of their life.

I don’t want people to engage physically because of the number they see on their screen at the end of the day.

Is it possible? How do we promote healthy activity engagement ? What do you think?