Authors Schaefer et al. (2016) explore how youth use a tracking device to document and keep track of their personal health data. A 6-month study with youth was conducted in order to explore this issue. The youth were ages 11-12 and came from low-income, urban backgrounds which meant that there was low technology access. Each participant was given a wearable technology; the Fitbit was the physical activity monitoring system that was used. There was a quantitative and a qualitative analysis in the study. The quantitative component examined students’ engagement with the Fitbit. Engagement was defined as wearing and syncing the device on a server regularly, activity level was translated to the number of steps participants took, and behavior change meant the differences between baseline and activity levels. The qualitative component of the study was designed to gather data about the participants’ (the youths in the study) thoughts about using the fitness device. To collect this qualitative data, the researchers conducted focus groups. A variety of results were reported. There was indication of initial reactivity which meant that the participants altered their performance due to the awareness that they were being observed. Moreover, the participants’ engagement seemed to be boosted when a researcher was present. The amount that participants engaged with the device daily kept dropping. Additionally, there were gender-based different in how the participants used the device. In specific, males reported using the Fitbit to compete with each other, while females worked collectively to increase personal activity data. Many participants also reported a personal behavior change as a result of using the Fitbit. For example, some of the youth reported wanting to engage in physical activity more. The authors concluded that in order to get youth to engage in self-tracking, they need incentives and external motivators. The results suggests that the Fitbit alone does not cause signifiant changes in peoples’ existing physical activity practices. Furthermore, Jane McGonigal (2012), a game designer, begins her TED talk by telling her audience that she will increase their lifespan by 7.5 minutes. Her passion for playing gaming leads her to state that it is untrue to claim that gaming is a “taste of time.” She talks about the 5 top claims that people make on their death bed and argues that gaming can address these 5 statement. McGonigal claims that studies have proven that online games can outperform pharmaceuticals to treat clinical anxiety and depression, that it can be used as a tool to express oneself, etc,. The speak then provides a personal example; in order to heal from a very serious concussion she played games — that was her remedy. In fact, she created a game. The game that she had created (called “superbetter”) reached audiences with depression, cancer, Chron’s disease, and even ALS. The game intervened so powerfully in the lives of the users; it made them feel stronger and happier. This is known as post-traumatic growth, in which people find a new meaning and purpose in life; interestingly, this is the exact opposite of the top 5 regrets of the dying. McGonigal mentions that there are ways to achieve this post-traumatic growth without going through a traumatic event. Physical resilience can be boosted by actively moving, mental resilience (or willpower) can be strengthened by tackling a small challenge without giving up, emotional resilience can be attained by experiencing 3 positive emotions a day, and social resilience can be boosted through physical touch.
I had a great time watching McGonigal’s TED talk because of how interactive and animated her speech was. I also really enjoyed reading Schaefer and her colleagues’ study and learning about its results. Although I do not own a Fitbit or any other wearable device, I have an iPhone and whenever I remember, I check the “health” application. I do not bike on the Davis campus so I like to track how many miles I walk a day. The amount that I walk however varies; some days I walk 2 miles and other days I walk 8 miles. Whenever I see that I have walked around 10 miles, I feel good about myself and I get inspired to continue exercising. It motivates me to use the transportation system less often; I encourage myself to walk to places, such as the grocery store. On weekends, when I do not have to go to classes and I know that I have extra free time, I push myself to walk or longer periods of time. Similar to the male participants in the study, I like to compete with my siblings by comparing my daily walking distance to my siblings’. In my eyes, engaging in real-time feedback is really interesting; it is always a fun surprise learning about and being able to track my own data. In a way, I feel like I have become my own personal trainer by interacting iPhone’s health app.
Questions:
- Do you think that simply wearing the Fitbit (or any other wearable device that tracks your physical activity) will increase your desire/encourage you to exercise more often? Or are other external rewards/factors needed to push you to exercise more?
- Do you believe that playing online games can lead to what McGonigal refers to as “post-traumatic growth” in her TED talk?
UWP 104D 