Technology in the Service of Personal Health and Fitness
Posted Oct 03 2008 12:52pm
On the heels of my post regarding the Wii Fit, this article discusses a few other ways in which technology is being used to improve people’s well being. The authors examine such items as cell phones that measure the number of steps people take, as well as glucose levels, e-mail reminders (with images) designed to increase exercise, and phone counseling designed to improve the fitness of pregnant women. Really cool applications, all!
What is really nice about much of this stuff is the immediacy of the feedback, as well as the tracking of progress. For example, I have a GPS device for runners that allows for instantaneous feedback on how fast I’m going, how far I’ve gone, and how long I’ve been running. It also has other bells and whistles for the more serious runners. Time was, one had to go out in their car and drive the running route in order to gauge a distance, and knowing your pace was an art, based on “feel.” The degree of information provided makes setting goals that much easier, as well as interesting. In addition, the device frees up my running from pre-set parameters; if I decide to go a different way, I’ll still know exactly how far I’ve gone. It makes the whole process of running easier and more interesting.
What will be interesting to witness is, with the continuing understanding that games make things more appealing (especially to kids), the increasingly creative ways tech folks will design games to increase the frequency and intensity of behaviors that are desired. As mentioned earlier, the Wii Fit is just one example. By quantifying fitness through scores, people will not only get a quick and dirty number regarding their current status, they will have a time-proven desire to want to improve that score. A child has a speech difficulty? A voice recognition program will make a game out of speech therapy. A veteran is learning to walk on artificial legs? Some smart, creative person will create a game that encourages learning to walk that way. The potential is limitless, and instead of computers leading to sloth and obesity, it may well lead to a quantum leap in the capacity to improve human functioning.
On the heels of my post regarding the Wii Fit, this article discusses a few other ways in which technology is being used to improve people’s well being. The authors examine such items as cell phones that measure the number of steps people take, as well as glucose levels, e-mail reminders (with images) designed to increase exercise, and phone counseling designed to improve the fitness of pregnant women. Really cool applications, all!
What is really nice about much of this stuff is the immediacy of the feedback, as well as the tracking of progress. For example, I have a GPS device for runners that allows for instantaneous feedback on how fast I’m going, how far I’ve gone, and how long I’ve been running. It also has other bells and whistles for the more serious runners. Time was, one had to go out in their car and drive the running route in order to gauge a distance, and knowing your pace was an art, based on “feel.” The degree of information provided makes setting goals that much easier, as well as interesting. In addition, the device frees up my running from pre-set parameters; if I decide to go a different way, I’ll still know exactly how far I’ve gone. It makes the whole process of running easier and more interesting.
What will be interesting to witness is, with the continuing understanding that games make things more appealing (especially to kids), the increasingly creative ways tech folks will design games to increase the frequency and intensity of behaviors that are desired. As mentioned earlier, the Wii Fit is just one example. By quantifying fitness through scores, people will not only get a quick and dirty number regarding their current status, they will have a time-proven desire to want to improve that score. A child has a speech difficulty? A voice recognition program will make a game out of speech therapy. A veteran is learning to walk on artificial legs? Some smart, creative person will create a game that encourages learning to walk that way. The potential is limitless, and instead of computers leading to sloth and obesity, it may well lead to a quantum leap in the capacity to improve human functioning.