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Don’t Buy a Fitness Tracker for Your Kid
They do more harm than good, research shows
UNICEF, 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…
