Bye, Fitbit (again)

I bought a Fitbit on February 2016 because I was curious about how much I was walking and up my game if required. I lost it twice (the first time I got a replacement unit courtesy of Fitbit, the second time someone from my building found it), misplaced it twice and washed it in the washing machine twice.

I chose the One model because I wanted to wear it on my hip as I think it’s a more accurate location to track steps than the wrist. I wore it almost every day for almost 2 years (except for the handful of times that I forgot it at home and when I lost it). I found it a lot more useful as a step tracker than as a sleep tracker (mainly because I sometimes forgot to turn this function on/off), but to be honest, the thing I loved the most about my Fitbit was the alarm function. I prefer the gentle buzz to a sound alarm, and I find it more effective than my light alarm (which I miss when I sleep on my stomach).

So why did I sack my Fitbit? For a few reasons:

• The battery started giving me some grief a few weeks ago (it would drain a lot faster than usual).
• It was a great tool to track movement but I don’t think I need it anymore. Tracking steps is like tracking dietary intake: first, logging makes you act more mindfully and second, once you have logged a number of times, you learn how to estimate steps/intake without logging.
• I wore it on my right hip all the time for consistency sake but I realise this might have exacerbated my hip imbalance.

Who is a Fitbit right for? People who want/need to be more active and who respond well to outer accountability or who subscribe to the quantified self movement.

Who is a Fitbit not right for? People who resist outer expectations. Perfectionists and/or people who get too anxious about outcomes, for which tracking can become a source of stress. People who keep losing stuff (obviously!).

If you don’t know yourself enough to determine whether a Fitbit or similar wearable might be useful for you, I suggest you take Gretchen Rubin’s Four Tendencies quiz.

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