I gave it an all-out effort, ignoring the obvious fashion faux pas of wearing a piece of rubber on my wrist (in black of course). I covered it, and shall I say ignored it, as best I could to no avail as it reminded me regularly of my steps or stairs (or lack of), sleeping habits, telephone calls and overall respite time by vibrating at all the success, and more often, the failure of my fit plan.
You probably have seen or even have one of these. Destined to be an incentive to a prescribed active lifestyle, I realized that for those of us who know instinctively we don’t get enough activity it is really a reminder of all the things we don’t do in a day. This constant reminder doesn’t incent me to do better…in fact I am most often discouraged, grabbing a bag of chips and sitting in front of the television bingeing on my latest video obsession.
To add insult to injury, I am wired to my children who send me motivational messages like “get moving” and “you can do it!” Then come the badges that are also psychologically pre-ordained to give one the added incentive to get up and go. They didn’t work for me either.
Although I do exercise, I realized that much of what I do (like swimming and biking) can’t be counted automatically. I have to add it to my daily score. Does anyone see the irony in something that is supposed to save you time by keeping track of your daily activity making you manually keep track of your daily activity?
What I realized (when I handed it over to my son) was that things like this, including badges and steps and sleep counts are based on this generation’s need for constant and instant gratification as well as confirmation that they are doing the right thing. I am reminded of the participation ribbons they were raised on. This constant pat on the back has been personified in a computer that sits on their wrist...constantly telling them how
good they are at what they are doing and encouraging them to keep going.
To further reinforce this theory, they have now added gaming to their mobile phones by capturing treasured icons. I am all for more physical activity whether biking, walking or running (or whatever) but can’t we just do it without being constantly barraged by technology? Isn’t physical activity supposed to stimulate your pheromones and help you think more clearly? How can you possibly do that with all this activity going on? Whether you capture a prize figure or hatch an egg (don’t ask...I don’t get it)
I wonder if fitness now has become an extension of even more stimulation (as if there isn’t enough already).
Both my children have defended the fitness activity to me, their mother, who they believe is slowly turning into a sloth. This of course is not true. I consider my fitness regime appropriate for a woman of my age and stature
and no amount of rubber band is going to make me move faster or more often.
To say that my children are disappointed is an understatement. I think this was a passage, they hoped, to my being more “hip” (instead it may have worked the opposite, making me more hippy and I don’t mean a throwback from the 60’s). What they do say about teaching an old dog new tricks is especially true for me. What they forget is that I have been active my whole life and am amazed that my offspring are unaware that it is because of their parents’ encouragement, they now see value in keeping their own fitness level, proving that the apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree, no matter how you keep track of it. Have a wonderful fall and only if you want, get out there!