Fitbits have taken the world by storm.
If you’ve got one, chances are, you can’t leave the house without it.
Obsessed with checking your daily steps?
How long you've slept?
Or your heart rate during that cardio sesh?
Well, there’s a whole lot more to that thing on your wrist than you think.
Let's dive deep into this hot fitness craze — here's the untold truth of the Fitbit.
Chillax
More and more people are finding new ways to slay that Fitbit life — but lots of people
are going beyond using them just for getting into physical shape.
When Buzzfeed writer Becky Barnicoat needed help managing her chronic stress, she decided
to use a Fitbit to monitor her heart rate, marking when stress was starting to build,
so she could head it off at the pass.
And it worked!
Users have also found that Fitbit reveals not just the inner workings of our body, but
our emotions, too.
One user's Fitbit even tracked the precise nuance of heartbreak when he broke up with
his boyfriend.
"Don't remind me.
I miss it so much."
Bun in the oven
A man named David Trinidad took to Reddit to post about how his wife's Fitbit kept registering
a strange, higher-than-normal heart rate.
He wondered if it was starting to malfunction, and asked if anyone had any ideas on what
could be wrong, and how to fix it.
But another Reddit user suggested that there might be another cause: His wife could be
pregnant.
And she was!
According to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, one of the telltale signs of pregnancy
is an increased heart rate, to match your body’s increased need for blood, typically
increasing the heart rate by 10 to 15 bpm.
According to Fitbit, this was the first-ever product pregnancy reveal, but they weren’t
too surprised, since the heart rate tells so much about a person's health.
Legally bombed
When you have a conversation with your doctor, you're protected by patient privacy laws.
But that’s not true with the Fitbit.
In 1996, the "Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act" was launched to secure
insurance and healthcare data.
But things like the Fitbit?
Not covered.
In one case, a San Francisco cyclist had GPS data from a fitness tracking app he was using
as taken as evidence in his own vehicular manslaughter trial.
The data was used to help prove he was at the incident in question and going above the
area's speed limit — and he was ultimately convicted.
Fitbits, like pretty much every other smart device you carry with you every day, are constantly
collecting data about you and your life, and your every move is recorded when you're wearing
one of those things.
All this goes to show: that info just isn't as private as you'd probably like to think.
On the other hand, Fitbits can also be used for good — that's the whole point, right?
Lifesaver
In 2016, one man's Fitbit literally saved his life.
When he was admitted to a hospital in New Jersey with an irregular heartbeat, doctors
weren’t sure what was up.
Was it a chronic problem?
Or one brought on by a seizure?
If they treated the wrong condition, he could die.
And if they didn’t treat him?
So, they grabbed his Fitbit and his phone, looked up his recent history and heart rate,
and were able to do the right thing and save the man’s life, resetting his heart rate
with electrical cardioversion.
The case made it into the Annals of Emergency Medicine, giving doctors reason to take note
of the lifesaving potential of the Fitbit in a whole new way.
Then again, no one — doctors included — should think the Fitbit is an infallible piece of
technology.
Case in point...
Heartbreaker
In 2016, Fitbit was hit with a class action lawsuit, claiming that the heart rate tracker
was imprecise — and dangerously so.
According to some claims, Fitbits were anywhere from 25 to 78 beats per minute wrong.
Fitbit answered, saying that they stand by their technology as-is, and are prepared to
go to court to defend it, adding,
"Fitbit trackers are designed to provide meaningful data to our users to help them reach their
health and fitness goals, and are not intended to be scientific or medical devices."
Little Big Brother
Think your wellness habits are your little secret?
Think again.
Back in 2015, a Swiss insurance company announced it would kick-start a tracking program called
MyStep, which gave reduced rates to regular Fitbit users.
Their logic?
The more often people's Fitbits hit 10,000 steps-a-day, the healthier they are.
Conversely, if customers didn't step it up — or just skipped out on the MyStep program
— they'd be slammed with some hefty insurance premiums.
But those people weren’t the only ones getting monitored through their Fitbits.
According to an article in The Guardian, in fall of 2015, the Oral Roberts University
required their students to suit up with the tracker.
If their activity levels dropped too low, their grades would drop, too.
By way of an explanation, University president, William Wilson told The Guardian, "The marriage
of new technology with our physical fitness requirements is something that sets ORU apart.
We were the first university in the world to offer this unique approach to a fitness
program."
"What are you people, on dope?"
Even though no GPS trackers were enabled on those Fitbits, they were still recording student
data 24/7.
It might have been called "whole person education," but that invasion of privacy might need to
step back.
Dirty laundry
In 2011, Fitbit users got a major shock.
Not only were their online profiles made public by the devices by default, but a quick Google
search could allow you to find pretty much anyone's information.
That included not just how active you — or your neighbors — were, but also information
about exactly what you were doing.
Users found their entries on the internet for all to see — some of which, revealed
things like "Sexual Activity, Active, Vigorous effort."
"One little *beep* and I'm a hooker with no taste!"
After news of the debacle hit the web, Fitbit quickly changed users’ default settings
to "private," and reached out to search engines to remove sensitive data.
But there were more problems ahead.
In January 2016, some Fitbit users got hacked by cyber-thieves, trying to order replacement
Fitbits items through the users' warranties.
Users quickly realized hackers had also gained access to their sleep schedules, and regular
workouts.
Stalker, much?
A month later, things got even scarier.
Researchers from the University of Toronto took a look at just what information was being
broadcast by a number of wearable fitness trackers, including the Fitbit.
They found that almost every one of them emitted a constant Bluetooth signal that could be
picked up and tracked.
They also found the information the trackers were sending could be used on-the-spot by
retail stores and shopping centers to profile customers as they walked in the door.
That's just creepy.
Fatness tracker
It's safe to say that most people who wear a Fitbit want to boost their health, but several
studies have shown that some people report their weight heading in the other direction.
"Man, do I sound like an idiot."
So what gives?
When the University of Pittsburgh looked at 470 people who were all instructed to eat
a low-calorie diet and exercise more, they found that the half that followed the plan
on their own lost more weight.
The other half, who were given differently-branded fitness trackers, lost less weight.
Why?
A few reasons.
One was that hitting goals might make people feel they can eat more.
On the flip side, missing goals can be discouraging, not motivating.
A Fitbit bummer.
Psychological thriller
Let's face it: we all want diets, weight loss, and healthy living to be easy.
And strapping something on our wrists to tell us what to do, sounds pretty awesome.
But considering the things your Fitbit can't keep track of… what do we do?
While Fitbit technology is groundbreaking, it's the psychology of the tracker that really
makes a difference.
For example, when you have concrete evidence showing you’re killing it, you're motivated
to keep going.
It also asks that you pay more attention to what you're doing every day.
Random daily behavior is suddenly divided into "exercise" and "not exercise", and it's
that consciousness about what we do, and what we put into our bodies, that changes you for
the better.
Can you do all that without a Fitbit?
Sure.
But you gotta admit, turning your get-fit goals into a game is way more fun!
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