How to get the most from your wearable tech
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Trying to get healthy in the new year? Wearable technology, like Fitbits and Apple watches, sounds like a great idea. The problem: Many users quickly abandon them.
“At least 50 percent of people drop off after the first month,” said Vibhanshu Abhishek, an assistant professor of information systems at Carnegie Mellon University who studies fitness and health technology. “People start using these devices, and very soon they don’t see too much value.”
The devices themselves aren’t the problem, he said, noting that the technology continues to improve. New sensors in Apple watches and Fitbits will soon be able to measure indicators such as blood sugar and blood pressure and to detect sleep
apnea, increasingly with clinical precision. The issue is that the apps accompanying the devices don’t evolve with the user to keep him or her coming back.
“They are good at data collection, but they don’t provide very actionable insights,” he said. “Most of these devices fall short of telling the person this is the next thing you should be doing.”
What can help consumers get more out of their devices is social engagement with friends and relatives, he said, as well as the creation of additional incentives. Mr. Abhishek said that he knows of multiple groups on the CMU campus where students kick in a small amount of money per week, for example, and then distribute it to the people who take the most steps or meet their fitness goals. The apps themselvesalso allow people to have conversations or competeamong friends.
At the one- to two-month point of using the devices, social factors can make a difference in whether users continue, he said. “If you have more friends using the app, you will be more engaged, will exercise more.”
And personal health technology in the new year goes well beyond Fitbits, he said, noting that there are close to 80,000 health-related apps in the Apple App Store alone. Some that may be of use measure healthy eating, waterconsumption or sleep.
Some of the more popular ones, he said, are MapMyFitness, for general exercising, food logging; WhiteNoise, for better sleep; and WaterMinder, for hydration tracking.
But like the wearable technology, the key is whether they can keep consumers engaged. “They need to continuously evolve with the person to keep the novelty,” he said. “There has to be some reason for them to keep coming back. That piece of the puzzle is not solved yet.”