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Don’t Buy a Fitness Tracker for Your Kid

They do more harm than good, research shows

Angela Lashbrook
OneZero
Published in
7 min readNov 27, 2019

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Credit: Annie Otzen/Getty Images

UUNICEF, the United Nations agency devoted to delivering aid to kids around the world, now makes a fitness tracker for American children. Called the “Kid Power Band,” the smart bracelet petitions kids to get active with an unconventional incentive: If they complete enough steps in one day, UNICEF will deliver a food packet to a hungry child in need. “The more kids move with the Kid Power Band, the more lives they save!” the product page declares.

Apparently it needs to be said: Compelling children to exercise by holding the lives of other kids over their heads is magnificently problematic. Children shouldn’t be held responsible for the lives of other children. But it’s also problematic for another, less obvious reason: A punitive or even rewards-based system to encourage young people to move more won’t be effective in the mid or long term, and could cause or worsen obsessive thoughts and behaviors in some kids.

Which is to say, while a Fitbit or other fitness tracker is a tempting stocking stuffer for your kid, save your money or spend it on a better activity-focused gift.

About a quarter of Americans use a fitness wearable, such as a FitBit or an Apple Watch, at least once a…

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OneZero
OneZero

Published in OneZero

OneZero is a former publication from Medium about the impact of technology on people and the future. Currently inactive and not taking submissions.

Angela Lashbrook
Angela Lashbrook

Written by Angela Lashbrook

I’m a columnist for OneZero, where I write about the intersection of health & tech. Also seen at Elemental, The Atlantic, VICE, and Vox. Brooklyn, NY.

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