It's definitely the effect of having the information. I ended up returning the FitBit (it was a FitBit Force, which had a recall for skin reactions... I was one of those who got the reaction) and I stopped doing the extra stuff. Something about having that little counter there causes me to think about how to get more movement in. It's a bit of gamification, and as a lifelong video gamer it's an ingrained motivation to get that number as high as possible, I guess. :)
I'll be getting one of the new models with the heart rate monitor in when they come out early 2015, again free through work.
1) HOLY SHIT! The tech attacked you?!?! I think that assists my point more than anything! LOL
They used a surgical steel that had a small amount of nickel in it. Apparently it caused reactions in a small percentage of people. No different than the cheap 'silver' ring my sister once bought in Mexico. :)
2) I have always felt incredibly lucky that I sucked at video games when I was young (fucking duck hunt...). I would impulsively rather walk through a muddy field and kick up a few ducks then shoot at fake ones (and miss...).
Video games have been a real positive force in my life, really. I have been playing them for pretty much my whole life, and they've been great for teaching me the kinds of problem solving and computer skills that lead me into a high-paying career in tech. I do spend a fair amount of time in nature, though. I live 100m from the South Saskatchewan river, and we've got a great set of nature trails along the banks.
3) Have you tried keeping a journal about additional "unnecessary steps?" That tech costs like, what, $2.50? I know I have tons of free notebooks and pens that I have accumulated from various branded promos and banks... I'm not trying to delegitimize the positive effects of (free) tech or mock the real appeal of "gamification" that you mention, but fancy tech seems to be a pretty common crutch with millennials and gen-Zers, which I can only say b/c I am one. :) Please talk this through a little more to make me understand. What is the advantage of high-tech (fitbit) over low-tech (pen/paper)?
The advantage is that it's automatic. I don't have to do anything. I'm terrible at remembering to record things, so if I can have some piece of technology do it for me, I'm in favour of it. Technology should improve my life in some way, and be priced to meet the value I get from it. As I mentioned before, the FitBit was free through work, and as such the price/value equation works out.
I've become a lot more choosy over the years, though. I'm Gen-X, and used to be real gung-ho for anything technological. Lately, though, I have been slowly starting to discriminate between those technologies that are genuinely useful and those that seem to exist just for the sake of technology. There's so much waste caused by technology churn that I've started to question the whole thing a bit. Makes for a bit of cognitive dissonance sometimes, since my job is extremely technology dependent and has a high churn-rate (High Performance Computing).