I’ve had a Fitbit (the Fitbit Flex 2) for about 4 months. What do I think about it so far?
It works great for the primary reason I wanted one: it vibrates when I get a phone call or a text message. I don’t always hear my phone, especially in a noisy room (you can probably blame my 30+ years of playing drums for that).
So – problem solved!
But of course, the Fitbit Flex 2 does other “fitbit-y” stuff. What do I think about those features?
- Counting steps. Meh. It does that, certainly. It also counts drumming as steps, so there’s that. But getting my 10,000 steps in doesn’t seem like a great indicator of exercise. And I just don’t really care how many steps I’ve taken. Some people do, and that’s cool. For example, I know someone who is spending more time with his wife now – they go on walks together to “get in their steps.” I’m just not that interested, and I exercise in other ways.
- Sleep patterns. I apparently don’t get enough sleep. But then, I already knew that.
- Wearing a “wearable.” I haven’t worn a watch in years, so this is a bit different for me. But I could get used to it again.
That’s pretty much all the Fitbit Flex 2 does (I did buy the cheap one, after all). The Fitbit app can track more things like calories eaten, pounds lost, and how much water I drink. But I have to enter things into the app to track them. Again – not really interested.
That said, I like tracking other things. For example, I sometimes bike, and that’s fun to track with the Runkeeper app. It can track things like a map of where I biked, my average pace, and total miles biked. So that’s pretty useful.
Where am I going with this? A few random thoughts:
- It’s always a good thing to experiment with new technology. You have to play with stuff to see how it works. In this case, I’m learning about wearable tech and personal tracking devices and apps.
- Just because it’s popular (i.e., Fitbits) doesn’t mean it will work for you.
- You might find a personal use that’s not the primary use (i.e., me “feeling” phone calls and text messages by having the Fitbit vibrate on my wrist instead of having to hear them).
Are there library uses for wearables? Sure there are – keeping staff healthy by offering step-counting walking incentives (some health insurance plans do that), learning about new technology (i.e. wearables), and providing teaching opportunities for customers all come to mind. There might be others!
What do you think? Do you own a wearable? And do you like it? Why? Please share!