Do Activity Trackers Make You More Active?
The answer is strange and useful!
Post summary
Many fitness tracker companies claim their devices will help you become more active.
But whether activity trackers actually make people more active is a fascinating and enlightening rabbit hole.
We’re covering the research on fitness trackers and activity and giving takeaways that can help you find the right tracker, use the one you have better, and be more active.
We’ll also cover three features to look for in a tracker, according to research.
Housekeeping
Full access to this post is for Members. Membership gets you full access to all of our posts and their audio version, plus other benefits.
Become a Member below.
Thanks to those of you who joined yesterday’s Substack Live AMA! Remember, we were beta testing Substack’s new live video feature. It appears the notification emails were delayed (we didn’t expect beta testing would go perfectly!).
We’ll be running the video as an AMA post later this month.
Podcast/audio version of this post
The Post
On Monday, we covered why many running coaches are telling their runners to ditch GPS trackers. They argue the technology has benefits but can eventually lead to slower and less enjoyable running.
We explained four ways you can use your GPS tracker better. Read them here.
As I was writing that post, I had a question:
Do activity trackers lead people to become more active?
Like, if a person buys a pedometer, GPS, or other tracker, do they increase their activity level?
It’s an important question. Anything that boosts activity is worthwhile. Consider:
One study found that people who took 8,000 steps a day were 50 percent less likely to die over a decade compared to those who took 4,000.
We’ve long understood the value of tracking our activity. Leonardo da Vinci invented the first step counter, and Thomas Jefferson commissioned a pocket-watch-sized tracker. But it wasn't until 1996, with the Yamax DW-500, that scientists used fitness tracker data in health research.
Today, the activity tracking market is worth $55 billion annually, and many companies say their trackers make users more active. Corporate wellness departments have bought in, with companies like British Petroleum, Bank of America, IBM, and Target offering employees free trackers to encourage more physical activity.
Many of us in the Two Percent community, including myself, have owned multiple trackers.
As I approached this question, I guessed trackers would lead to more activity. I assumed the observer effect would take hold after someone bought a device, compelling them to move more.
The observer effect is “the fact that observing a situation or phenomenon necessarily changes it.” Applied to a step counter, it suggests that once you know how many steps you take, you probably end up taking more of them.
So I spent Sunday and Monday down a rabbit hole of research on activity trackers and whether they help people become more active.
But the results I found were far more fascinating than I anticipated. Here’s what we’re covering today:
The chicken/egg problem of fitness trackers.
Results from studies on long-term tracker use.
Whether fitness trackers lead people to become more active.
Reasons why people stop using trackers.
Three features science tells us we should look for in a tracker.
Why your tracker is wrong and what to do about it.
Final thoughts on trackers and activity.
Let’s roll …