🔗 Share this article Could I Be Dependent on My Wearable Device? Many runners catch themselves consulting their trackers numerous times during a competition. An atmosphere of nervous excitement. Visible is the frosty air coming from my rivals as they perform the "pre-race" wiggle on the beginning point. A quick movement of the hips. I'm at my local 5km community parkrun and I mean business. It's almost time... Oh, hang on. I have to sort my tracker. As does the guy alongside me. The person in the line expresses impatience. I refuse to go until… done! Connection established, away I go. During the scramble, it's hard to see a person without a fitness tracker on it. And this extends beyond us participants who rely on them. We're witnessing a thriving, multi-billion pound market. Companies like Samsung Galaxy lead the market, featuring an wide selection of diverse models to fit a variety of needs. Based on how high tech the watch you go for, prices can start from an affordable sum to thousands of pounds. "I find it infuriating, it's impossible to relax." "It comforts me… It feels like a supporter supporting me." "Please don't notify me I've experienced a bad night's sleep." Just some of the comments I've had from like-minded device users when I inquire what they feel about theirs. Individuals are frequently questioning whether the data they're seeing is reliable. A Sea of Statistics My feelings on my own device? Right now, frustrating. It's reporting I'm off pace, causing me to question whether the trees along my route are disrupting my satellite signal. Millions of us fasten these small devices onto our wrists and use them constantly, apparently unconcerned with the fact they're continuously monitoring us. Gone are the days when we relied on them exclusively to give us an estimation of our pedometer reading. Now, they can track our nightly rest, heart rate, heart rate variability (HRV), our body battery. It's a challenge to find a physical metric they don't track. But do they do what they claim to do? And are the data points we analyse a true reflection of the truth? Do they enhance our overall health, or do the plethora of measurements and constant notifications just contribute to our sense of overwhelm? Some users find the abundance of functions on their smartwatches to be "overwhelming" at times. A Love-Hate Relationship "I become a a little obsessed with mine," a wearer reveals. While she appreciates how her device tracks her exercise, she finds some of its other functions "daunting" at times - a feeling first discovered during a major life event. Until she found out she could put it into a specific mode, her smartwatch constantly alerted her she was not being productive enough. Now, the watch keeps telling her she's had a restless night. "I am caring for a infant, it's unnecessary for me to be told my sleep was poor," she says. "I'm acutely aware only too well." Is it not possible to just remove it? "It's possible, I suppose, but I'm in this complicated dynamic with it," she continues. "I love it for its workout tracking, but I'm unsure whether the myriad other functions it can now do is possibly overkill for me." Inside the Device Each model of smartwatch has its own novel way of tracking your bodily functions and analysing your data, but the vast bulk use sensors on the reverse of the watch. They typically emit small, green LED lights onto your skin which can monitor capillary action, identifying your heartbeat. Higher-end devices analyse changes in the electrical current that runs through the skin to assess your recovery state. The Professional Viewpoint A professor says that in general for smartwatches, it's a "delicate equilibrium" - while the rapidly advancing tech could realistically prevent illness, "detecting disease before we show symptoms", it could also turn us watch wearers into the "concerned but fine". He points out that the most advanced wearables can conduct tests like electrocardiograms (ECGs), which regularly monitor how stable the heart is. They can alert if someone is experiencing atrial fibrillation (AF), where there is abnormal signals in the heart causing an irregular heartbeat. This does not necessarily indicate someone is about to have a heart attack, but it can give an early warning they might be more at risk of a heart problem in the future. But how to understand these readings is not straightforward. The expert concerns that as more functions are incorporated, people may struggle to fully contextualise their data. "I have some doubts that having the capacity to monitor so many things is such a beneficial thing," he says. A clinical psychologist studying wearable tech agrees. Her work into the effect of wearable tech on a specific group of individuals with health issues suggested a minority of those who were given devices to monitor their condition experienced increased anxiety and were "had a higher tendency to use healthcare resources". She observed a pattern with her patients - they spotted a concerning reading on their watch. They became worried. Their pulse rose. They got increasingly anxious. They re-examined the data, and their anxiety rose further. "Upon viewing stats about ourselves that we lack context for then, of course, we are going to become concerned," the psychologist says. "We monitor, we check again - it becomes a vicious cycle."