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Could I Be Dependent on This Wearable Device?
A sense of building tension. I can see the chilled vapour emanating from my rivals as they perform the "starting line" jiggle on the beginning point.
A quick flick of the hips.
I'm at my local Saturday morning race and I'm focused. The countdown begins...
Wait a second. I need to start my device. The same goes for the person alongside me.
The person waiting tuts. I won't start until… done! Signal acquired, I'm off.
During the scramble, it's hard to spot a person without a smartwatch on it. And it's not just us participants who use them.
This is a thriving, multi-billion dollar market. Companies like Apple Watch are prevalent, all offering an broad selection of various models to fit a variety of lifestyles. Depending on how feature-packed the device you choose, price tags can range from a hundred pounds to a significant investment.
"It drives me insane, I'm unable to stop checking."
"It comforts me… It's like a companion guiding me."
"I wish it wouldn't say I've had a restless night."
Just some of the comments people have shared from like-minded smartwatch wearers when I ask what they feel about theirs.
The Monitoring Conundrum
My feelings on mine? Currently, annoying. It's telling me I'm off pace, leading me to doubt whether the foliage along my route are disrupting my satellite signal.
Millions of us fasten these compact gadgets onto our wrists and use them all day and night, seemingly comfortable with the fact they're perpetually monitoring us.
Long past are the days when we relied on them solely to give us an estimation of our pedometer reading. Now, they can measure our sleep quality, heart rate, heart rate variability (HRV), our body battery.
It's a challenge to find a bodily function they aren't designed to measure.
But do they do what they advertise? And are the numbers we scrutinise a true reflection of the truth? Do they enhance our daily wellness, or do the plethora of readings and constant notifications just add to our sense of overwhelm?
A Love-Hate Relationship
"I become a bit fixated with mine," an individual admits.
While she values how her device tracks her runs, she finds some of its other features "excessive" at times - a feeling first discovered during a pregnancy.
Prior to discovering she could change its configuration, her smartwatch constantly alerted her she was being insufficiently active enough. Now, the watch keeps telling her she's had a bad night's sleep.
"I have a young baby, I don't need to be informed I've not slept," she says. "That fact is only too well."
Couldn't she just remove it?
"I suppose I could, theoretically, but I'm in this complicated dynamic with it," she explains. "I appreciate it for its workout tracking, I just wonder whether the myriad other functions it can now do is possibly too much for me."
The Technology Behind the Tracking
Different brands of smartwatch has its own novel way of measuring your health metrics and analysing your data, but the vast bulk use detectors on the underside of the watch.
They usually emit tiny, coloured LED lights onto your wrist which can detect capillary action, recording your BPM. More advanced devices detect changes in the skin conductance that runs through the skin to assess your nervous system activity.
Expert Perspectives
A professor says that in general for smartwatches, it's a "difficult line" - while the continuously improving tech could actually prevent illness, "spotting abnormalities before we show symptoms", it could also turn us watch wearers into the "worried well".
He points out that newer wearables can carry out tests like electrocardiograms (ECGs), which continuously monitor how stable the heart is. They can alert if someone is experiencing a heart arrhythmia, where there is abnormal signals in the heart causing an irregular heartbeat.
This does not necessarily indicate someone is about to have a heart attack, but it can give an advance notice they might be more vulnerable of a blood clot in the years to come.
But how to make sense of these figures is complex. The expert fears that as additional features are added, people may find it hard to fully contextualise their data.
"I remain sceptical that having the capacity to monitor so many metrics is such a positive development," he says.
A health researcher focusing on cardiology echoes this sentiment. Research into the impact of wearable tech on a cohort of cardiovascular patients suggested a significant portion of those who were given devices to monitor their condition experienced greater stress and were "more inclined to use healthcare resources".
She identified a vicious circle with her patients - they noticed a alarming metric on their watch. They grew concerned. Their heart rate went up. They got increasingly anxious. They looked a second time, and their anxiety increased again.
"When people are presented with data about ourselves that we don't really understand then, understandably, we are going to seek clarification," the psychologist says. "We monitor, we check again - it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy."
Brian Hernandez
A passionate writer and shopping enthusiast with a keen eye for quality products and lifestyle trends.
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