To guarantee that the majority of citizens live healthy lives, all governments work to improve the health sector. While there are many health-related issues to be concerned about, diet and exercise tracking are two of the most important aspects of a healthy living that society could support. Although many improvements have been made, Fitbit's self-monitoring technology sticks out as possibly the most successful. With the help of Fitbit devices, people can keep an eye on and control their behavior by making commitments to actions like exercising frequently and maintaining their health. The significance of Fitbit healthcare technology is examined in this essay, as well as how it has influenced society's attempts to lead healthy lives. Before the quantitative self-age, people had to obtain medical assistance to track basic health needs. In many cases, patients would only visit health professionals after health problems would occur. Perhaps this could be the case because there was no way of detecting and monitoring behavior and body responses under different circumstances. In other words, conditions such as obesity were difficult to prevent since individuals could not detect them earlier (Weintraub). It was a cultural dimension that people would only visit a healthcare professional when they felt pain or some unusual changes in their bodies. Such approach was inefficient, given that some conditions are at times mild, but late detection could lead to serious cases. Weight-gain is an example of conditions that require closer monitoring; otherwise, the condition could worsen within a short span of time.
Consequently, the invention of Fitbit in the quantitative self-age has positively impacted people's lives by allow individuals to prevent health problem with the help of technology. When people’s health is monitored, especially by themselves, it becomes easier to prevent advancement of a condition to dangerous levels (Teller et al. 80). With Fitbit, people can detect changes early and take counter-actions to suppress adverse effects of such changes. Aspects such weight are closely monitored so that a person can exercise regularly to control weight-loss or gain within the permissible threshold of a healthy life. Prevention of health problems has been beneficial not only in keeping people healthy but also minimizing costs that would otherwise be spent on treatment. Such benefits have encouraged adoption of Fitbit among many American people hence improving their health.
One would argue that the age of quantitative self has started a revolution, which creates an environment that encourages people to live healthier. Indeed, when one would see a neighbor leading a healthy life with the help of Fitbit, he or she would be encouraged to embrace the same technology (Weintraub). Given that everyone wants a healthy family, it would be easier to share information about the significance of embracing such technology among family members as well as friends. With such flow of information, more people would be able to adopt healthy lifestyles through sharing information and encouraging one another. In the end, a culture of healthy behavior would be developed and passed on to new generations. This effort would gradually transition the society and constitute a healthy national and cultural orientation.
Moreover, personal accountability is an important aspect of healthy living. The Fitbit, in particular, has transformed individuals’ health by enabling people to be accountable, prevent health problems through awareness, affordability and motivates people to live a healthier lifestyle. This outcome could be attributed to the fact that Fitbit targets to help individuals take care of themselves by themselves. Unlike conventional approaches where individuals must visit healthcare practitioners, Fitbit takes the approach of self-management through monitoring of one’s behavior (Weintraub). Additionally, the technology has instilled a sense of commitment at a personal level among the users. Such traits are crucial in the development of one’s behavior in becoming a responsible and diligent individual in other areas of life.
In particular, technologies such as Fitbit Wristwatch have helped many Americans to track their sleep patterns, heart rate, calorie intake, exercise and much more from the convenience of their homes and at work. It is remarkably convenient that people can schedule their time well to ensure each activity is planned and executed, including fitness (Millington 480). Monitoring aspects such as sleep patterns would be helpful in ensuring people get enough sleep and rest to allow their bodies regenerate. Among many Americans, it has been common people overworking, which have brought detrimental effects of their health. Fitbit ensures that individuals plan their work including adequate time for resting, which is one of the essential aspects of a healthy life.
Furthermore, monitoring of important health issues such as calorie intake helps a lot in maintaining weight. People could observe their food consumption, especially the types of food consumed as well as amount and intervals. While obesity is a major health problem in America, Fitbit continues to bring hope and relieve most people through diet control. Also, given that such conditions are associated with particular heart rates, I would be easier to detect them at initial stages and taking action would prevent their advancement. Therefore, adoption of Fitbit is a worthwhile investment that individuals and governments should venture in (Guo, et al. 24). Consequently, most chronic and lifestyle diseases could be prevented through the adoption of efficient technologies such as Fitbit.
Another advantage of Fitbit is the provision of access to basic health information. While most people could not access their medical or health information, Fitbit has helped a lot because individuals could monitor body condition through observing information such as sugar levels, heart rates, among others (Mackinlay 29). While information not only helps people to understand themselves better, it also gives them a chance to take charge and control their behavior to maintain particular health conditions such as appropriate weight and diet. In other words, access to basic health information helps in ensuring personal responsibility and wellness efforts of the people (Gao, He and Yan 1709). Perhaps this could not be possible without the help of Fitbit Technologies.
Indeed, a study conducted by JMIR Mhealth Uhealth observed two groups of women to show the relevance of Fitbit in encouraging people to become accountable for the daily health (Lupton 395). The study also focused on the importance of Fitbit concerning individuals’access to information regarding movement and food consumption, which allows them to be aware of their actions. In the study, two groups of women were observed; One group was given aFitbit and a group of women given a regular pedometer. Though both groups did not experience significant weight loss, researchers found that participants wearing Fitbit trackers “encouraged high levels of self-monitoring” (JMIR Mhealth Uhealth).
The study concluded that by increasing an individual's self-monitoring, it allows them to understand and be responsible for their daily movement. The study also found out that people can regulate their behavior, which could lead to improving it and making better fitness related choices. “Fitness trackers have the potential to improve health” by LeeAnn Weintraub interviewed Jay Blahnik, Director of Fitness for Health Technologies at Apple; he concludes that trackers are getting individuals moving making them more aware of their daily fitness patterns. This increase of awareness is “ key for motivation and becoming accountable for making impactful behavior changes”(Weintraub). The Fitbit technology is creating a society that has a better understanding of the impact their behavior has on their health. Further, the use of these devices is “increasingly popular not only among fitness enthusiasts and athletes but with everyday people who are committing to being healthier”(Weintraub).
Values and Ethical Concerns
Unlike many technological innovations in the contemporary tech world, Fitbit has had minimal ethical issues. A few individuals could think of it as a confining endeavor, given that you have to follow certain patterns of behavior. While the technology emphasizes self-motivation, some could argue that it makes them “slaves” to the devices since they have to obey and follow particular activities depending on the condition of their bodies (Lazar et al. 38). For example, one would be required to reduce sleeping hours or perhaps increase exercise hours to curb the weight-gaining problem. A few people consider this as lacking the freedom to do what they like at any time they wish (Fritz et al. 6). This view has been one of the negative reviews that Fitbit has received because some people view it as a forcible endeavor when they could decide on what to do.
Additionally, like most electronic gadgets, Fitbit devices have been associated with disadvantageous health outcomes such as cancer and other radiation-related conditions. Arguments have been presented that wearing electronic devices for longer hours could lead to cases of radiation defects among people due to the effect of electromagnetic waves that devices use to communicate and rays that scan the body (Clawson et al. 4). Although such cases have been raised, Fitbit devices have been tested and proved to be efficient with no harm to users. In fact, most healthcare and fitness professionals have recommended Fitbit because of its efficiency in helping people to live healthily.
Another value that Fitbit has created is the view of health management as a personal issue that individuals could control by themselves. As stated earlier, the devices help greatly in instilling commitment and personal responsibility to ensuring healthy living. Therefore, the technology has shaped societies worldview on health; hence, developing cultures that are aware and able to participate in healthy lifestyles. Also, the technology could be helpful in sharing information and helping others to adopt healthy living, leading to a society of responsibly healthy people (Kranz et al. 206).
In conclusion, Fitbit is an important technology that helps individuals to self-monitor their health conditions and adapt to changing behavior to ensure wellness at all times. The technology has been crucial, given that it allows people to access basic information such as sugar levels, heart rates, and timely exercising to keep fit. While there are some ethical issues associated with Fitbit, it is an efficient technology continues to improve lives of many Americans. Further, it has helped in reducing cases of lifestyle diseases such as diabetes and obesity through helping people to control activities such as exercise and diet. In other words, Fitbit is a worthwhile investment that the government, health professionals, and individuals should encourage others to embrace.
Works Cited
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Fritz, Thomas, et al. "Persuasive technology in the real world: a study of long-term use of activity sensing devices for fitness." Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. ACM, 2014.
Gao, Yiwen, He Li, and Yan Luo. "An empirical study of wearable technology acceptance in healthcare." Industrial Management & Data Systems 115.9 (2015): 1704-1723.
Guo, Fangfang, et al. "An evaluation of wearable activity monitoring devices." Proceedings of the 1st ACM international workshop on Personal data meets distributed multimedia. ACM, 2013.
Kranz, Matthias, et al. "The mobile fitness coach: Towards individualized skill assessment using personalized mobile devices." Pervasive and Mobile Computing 9.2 (2013): 203-215.
Lazar, Amanda, et al. "Why we use and abandon smart devices."Proceedings of the 2015 ACM International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing. ACM, 2015.
Lupton, Deborah. "Quantifying the body: monitoring and measuring health in the age of mHealth technologies." Critical Public Health 23.4 (2013): 393-403.
Mackinlay, Molly Zellweger. "Phases of accuracy diagnosis:(in) visibility of system status in the FitBit." Intersect: The Stanford Journal of Science, Technology and Society 6.2 (2013).
Millington, Brad. "Smartphone apps and the mobile privatization of health and fitness." Critical Studies in Media Communication 31.5 (2014): 479-493.
Teller, Eric, et al. "Apparatus for monitoring health, wellness and fitness." U.S. Patent No. 7,261,690. 28 Aug. 2007.
Weintraub, LeeAnn. "Fitness trackers have the potential to improve health." LA Daily News. LA Daily News, 08 Sept. 2015. Web. 04 Apr. 2017.
