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Health Apps Could Be Doing More Harm Than Good, Warn Scientists (theguardian.com)
According to several scientists, fitness apps might be doing more harm than good because they don't work but force people to focus on ambitious goals that they will never reach. Some are so appalled by these apps that they have called it "snake oil salesmen of the 1860s." From a report on The Guardian: Greg Hager, professor of computer science at Johns Hopkins University, said that in the absence of trials or scientific grounding it was impossible to say whether apps were having the intended effect. "I am sure that these apps are causing problems," he told the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting in Boston. [...] Hager claimed the 10,000 steps target dated back to a 1960s Japanese study that showed there were health benefits for men who burned at least 2,000 calories per week through exercise -- roughly equivalent to 10,000 steps each day. An early pedometer was known as the manpo-kei, which means "10,000-step meter" in Japanese. "But is that the right number for any of you in this room?" Hager asked. "Who knows. It's just a number that's now built into the apps." "We have an incredible number of apps in the wild basically being downloaded by people who may or may not understand what they are actually telling them or what the context for that is," he said. "Until we have evidence-based apps you could amplify issues. I mean, imagine everyone thinks they have to do 10,000 steps but you are not actually physically capable of doing that, you could actually cause harm or damage by doing so."
"Greg Hager, professor of computer science at Johns Hopkins University, said that in the absence of trials or scientific grounding it was impossible to say whether apps were having the intended effect. "I am sure that these apps are causing problems," he told the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting in Boston."
Without scientific study we can't say for sure that these apps are working, but we can say for sure that they're causing problems... Makes sense. As to pushing someone to walk 10,000 steps per day, if a person's not physically capable of walking 10,000 steps it's on them and their doctor to determine that. No app is going to force me to do something I'm not capable of just because it says on the screen that I should.
Scientific study of the benefit or harm is good. No doubt.
But, from a common sense 30,000 foot perspective, if there is even the slightest effect among the majority of these apps of embarrassing you into getting off your ass a little more often, isn't that likely to be a net health positive?
Where are we going and why are we in a handbasket?
>> is that the right number (of steps) for any of you?...It's just a number that's now built into the apps
It's worse that being built into a crappy little "health app" - it can actually cost you hundreds of dollars a month.
I was recently at a company where you got a discount on your health care plan if you walked 3,500 steps a day. With that in mind, I downloaded the related health-care app so I could reverse-engineer the web services and feed them the appropriate numbers each day to avoid paying more.
I was fat before fitbit. Now I'm stylishly fat.
Of course there's no science behind 95% (guess) of apps that really need science behind them. Science does not fit well into a devops release schedule.
I don't know whether to view this as the inevitable creep of snake oil into every market orifice, or tech giving snake oil a shot in the arm by virtue of people thinking "well, it took smart tech people to make this sniny modern 'app' so it must have the blessing of smart people."
Someone had to do it.
The example of 10,000 steps being too much for some people seems like a silly criticism. It's like saying just because some people are missing a finger, (5-fingered) gloves are bad.
Not to say that research isn't needed, just that decrying something for not being a universal solution is pretty weak.
things are pretty sad with the world if we have serious concerns that recommendations to take 10,000 steps in one day might hurt someone.
The whole drink 8 glasses of water a day thing is probably more of a risky recommendation for certain pre-existing conditions, but c'mon. Any health / exercise recommendation should be taken with caution if your health is on the far end of the bell curve.
This is a ridiculous criticism.
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With that in mind, I downloaded the related health-care app so I could reverse-engineer the web services and feed them the appropriate numbers each day to avoid paying more.
Are you boasting about committing fraud? And, if you happen to get caught then your insurance will be invalid, so if you need to use it, uoi'll personally be on the hook for all of the medical bills.
SJW n. One who posts facts.
I changed my diet and started exercising in November. After losing about 12 pounds, I bought a popular fitness tracker in January to help me keep going. I don't use it to track steps at all. I track calories in/out, water intake, various exercises, and sleep. It's been quite helpful, and I've lost another 13 pounds since then.
I for one vote we should suspend all exercise until we can determine a scientifically and clearly defined target for each person and get these hard coded in apps.
But on a more serious note, what a stupid argument to make. Just because someone doesn't understand the purpose of exercise doesn't mean actually getting some is automatically bad.