"Health is more than a number on a screen."
For years, I resisted getting a smartwatch. I didn't need a watch that could do anything more than tell time, I told myself — unless I found one that could jump onto the road and do my daily run for me. But then I got really into racing marathons. I finally decided that if I was serious about fitness I needed a watch that delivered more data: pace, distance, speed. |
My smartwatch changed everything. Math is usually not my forte — but when it comes to patterns I might as well be descended from Fibonacci. Suddenly, I had so much data. I barely had to think. I just had to go. |
My watch became a symbol of my trajectory — it measured every movement, every moment, and assigned it a value and rank. As long as those numbers improved, I was happy (ecstatic). And they did go up. But as I worked to get faster, I became dependent on tracking the numbers — on tracking myself. It didn't stop there. In the morning before work, instead of noticing whether I was still tired, I started opening the app to find out how I slept. Soon it felt like something that was designed to improve — or at least to monitor — my health, was tearing it apart. |
In an essay today, I explore whether we can get the best from these devices (data) without the worst they have to offer (dependency). Many things can be good in moderation, but a device that is designed to monitor your every move is going to fight for your attention. In my case, it won. |
Ultimately, a tool only works well if you use it right. So in this piece, I propose a challenge for 2022: Free yourself from the tyranny of your smartwatch. In my case, that was when I learned something I used to know instinctively: Health is more than a number on a screen. |
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