Is It Possible I'm Dependent on This Wearable Device?

An atmosphere of nervous excitement. Visible is the frosty air emanating from my fellow runners as they do the "about to run" wiggle on the start line.

A rapid movement of the hips.

I'm at my local weekly parkrun event and I'm serious. It's almost time...

Wait a second. I have to start my device. So does the person beside me.

The person waiting sighs. I'm not moving until… done! Signal acquired, and I'm running.

Amidst the crowd, it's difficult to see a arm without a fitness tracker on it. And this isn't only us participants who wear them.

This is a explosive, multi-billion dollar sector. Companies like Samsung Galaxy lead the market, all offering an extensive array of diverse models to cater to a variety of budgets. According to how feature-packed the model you select, price tags can range from a hundred pounds to a small fortune.

"It makes me crazy, I can't stop checking."

"It provides solace… It's like a companion supporting me."

"I wish it wouldn't say I've had a poor sleep."

Just some of the responses I've received from other smartwatch wearers when I inquire what they feel about theirs.

The Monitoring Conundrum

My thoughts on my own device? Currently, irritating. It's indicating I'm off pace, causing me to question whether the trees I'm running below are blocking my satellite signal.

Countless individuals of us strap these small gadgets onto our arms and wear them 24/7, apparently at ease with the fact they're perpetually monitoring us.

Gone are the days when we relied on them only to give us an estimation of our daily steps. Currently, they can measure our nightly rest, blood pressure, heart rate variability (HRV), our VO2 max.

It's difficult to find a physical metric they aren't designed to measure.

But are they able to do what they advertise? And are the data points we analyse a accurate representation of reality? Do they boost our mental and physical wellbeing, or do the plethora of measurements and motivational messages just add to our daily stresses?

A Love-Hate Relationship

"I become a bit obsessed with mine," a wearer reveals.

While she appreciates how her device monitors her exercise, she finds some of its other functions "excessive" at times - a feeling initially realised during a pregnancy.

Before she realised she could change its configuration, her smartwatch kept telling her she was failing to be active enough. In a new phase, the watch frequently reports her she's had a bad night's sleep.

"I've got a six-month old, it's unnecessary for me to be notified I'm tired," she says. "That fact is only too well."

Is it not possible to just take it off?

"I could, I suppose, but I'm in this love-hate relationship with it," she says. "I appreciate it for its exercise data, I sometimes question whether the myriad other functions it can now do is maybe too much for me."

How Do They Work?

Every device of smartwatch has its own proprietary way of monitoring your bodily functions and processing your data, but the majority use detectors on the underside of the watch.

They typically project minute LED lights onto your wrist which can monitor blood flow, identifying your BPM. Higher-end devices measure changes in the electrical current that flows through the skin to get an idea of your stress levels.

Expert Perspectives

A data scientist says that overall for smartwatches, it's a "difficult line" - while the rapidly advancing tech could realistically save lives, "spotting abnormalities before we show symptoms", it could also turn us the tracked into the "concerned but fine".

He points out that some of the latest wearables can carry out tests like medical-grade monitoring, which regularly monitor how normal the heart is. They can flag if someone is experiencing a heart arrhythmia, where there is erratic electrical activity in the heart causing an uneven pulse.

This does not automatically signal someone is on the verge of a cardiac event, but it can give an advance notice they might be more at risk of a stroke in the long term.

But how to make sense of these figures is complicated. The expert fears that as additional features are added, people may struggle to fully contextualise their data.

"I have some doubts that being able to monitor so many things is such a beneficial thing," he says.

A professor studying patient behaviour echoes this sentiment. Research into the effect of wearable tech on a cohort of individuals with health issues suggested a minority of those who were given devices to monitor their cardiac function experienced increased anxiety and were "far more likely to use doctor's time".

She observed a cycle with her patients - they spotted a alarming metric on their watch. They felt anxious. Their heart rate increased. They got even more concerned. They looked a second time, and their heart rate increased again.

"Upon viewing numbers about ourselves that we lack context for then, naturally, we are going to seek clarification," the psychologist says. "We check, we re-check - it becomes a feedback loop."