Like all devices, activity trackers have the potential for addiction. Trackers are addictiveДЄt the other extreme, rather than discarding the tracker, some teens may become over the top about their tracker. And activity itself becomes a chore, something to be avoided. But trackers, while fun and exciting at first, eventually become just another chore to do. Our teens ride their bikes to their friendвЂ™s houses on the weekends, or wrestle around the swimming pool. Our older kids climb trees and jump on the trampolines. The younger ones roll around on the floor or run back and forth across the lawn chasing their older siblings. Our kids (yes, even our teens) are naturally active. Tracking can suck the fun out of physical activity Those 229 who did use an activity tracker showed higher levels of both disordered eatingВ and exercise than the other 123 young adults. 229 of them used a fitness tracking device and 123 didnвЂ™t. She recently completed a studyВ with 352 young adult participants. Dr Carolyn Plateau, of Loughborough University, has been studying the effect that fitness trackers have on eating disorders. Trackers create an unhealthy relationship with food and exerciseДЄctivity trackers put an unhealthy focus on food and exercise. Activity trackers, with their immediate screen time reward, undermine that self-motivation and create an idea that the screen is the valuable thing while the activity was the task best avoided. Our kids need to develop self-motivation for all things in life вЂ“ including exercise вЂ“ in order to have resilience and lifelong wellbeing. Just like money is of value to us because we have to earn it, screens gain value when our kids have to earn them. Not only are we trading a period of activity with a period of inactivity, but weвЂ™re also increasing the perceived вЂvalueвЂ™ of the screen. There is something inherently wrong with rewarding activity with screen time. HereвЂ™s the issue: Trackers increase the вЂvalueвЂ™ of screens I have some pretty substantial concerns with the use of activity trackers for children вЂ“ and itвЂ™s not because IвЂ™m a luddite. With kids activity trackers, however, there is an external reward tied to every activity they undertake. But the big (BIG) difference here is that for those adults, the behaviour change was their reward. StudiesВ with adults have shown that activity trackers have the potential to help some change their behaviour. Just like all reward systems, the value of the reward has to increase over time, or interest in the task is lost (like employees who donвЂ™t receive regular pay rises).

Anecdotally, most adults I know have left their Fitbit in the junk drawer after the initial buzz of hitting 10 000 steps a day wore off. While there has been no research on the long term effect, I think itвЂ™s pretty safe to say that those positives wonвЂ™t continue for most children.

The positives are great! And perhaps obvious: Trackers can increase activity levelsД®arly researchВ has shown that wearable activity trackers can increase activity levels in the short term. LetвЂ™s take a look at the proвЂ™s and conвЂ™s of activity trackers: Positives But, for children at least, (and maybe for adults), activity trackers may be doing more harm than good. And companies producing activity trackers know it and are capitalising on it. And, WHO reports, insufficient physical activity is one of the leading risk factors for death across the planet. Statistics also show more than 81% of adolescents are insufficiently physically active. According to the World Health OrganisationВ (WHO)В the number of overweight and obese children (aged 0 to 5 years) increased from 32 million globally in 1990 to 41 million in 2016. Our children are increasingly inactive вЂ“ globally. We live in a country where obesity is a tremendous challenge. TheyвЂ™re compelling technology! But are activity trackers good for our children? In fact, our children LOVE them! TheyвЂ™re brightly coloured beeping watches that reward them with points for movement. Market researchВ shows that sales of wearable trackers will have grown by 26% in 2019 alone, and childrenвЂ™s versions are a key segment of that market. Wearable trackers like the Fitbit, Garmin, Moove, or even smart-watches are gaining significant market-share with children вЂ“ and with Christmas so close, itвЂ™s likely that theyвЂ™ll be in plenty of Santa stockings.

Fit bits for kids