Fitbit Is Here!
♫ wheeeeeeeeeefit
whoafit
holy$#*!fit
findyourfit..♫
Lyrics and music by Seth Olinsky (Akron/Family).
Who knew that keeping track of your fitness could be addictive – and fun? Welcome to the world of wearable technology and in particular, the Fitbit.
The FitBit Flex is a wearable fitness wristband that helps you track your daily activity in terms of steps, distance, calories burned and active minutes.
It tracks how long you slept and the quality of your sleep. It buzzes when you have achieved 10,000 steps in a day (the first time mine did this I almost jumped out of my skin!).
It synchs wirelessly to your computer and smartphones. You can log additional activities such as biking, skiing, running and more.
As you achieve your fitness goals, you get email reminders and badges that reinforce your progress. You can also track drinks of water and calories eaten in the food log section.
If what gets measured gets done, the FitBit is a fun and novel way to keep on top of your fitness goals and see how you are doing.
There are different devices ranging from the Flex (above) to the Surge that incorporates a heart monitor and is classified as a ‘Fitness Super Watch’ with GPS, notifications, music, Auto Sleep monitoring and alarms.
Since keeping fit is something that all of us need to do more of, it is good to know that the Fitbit can be a great little way to get that little bit of motivation to achieve your goals with a tiny bit of wheeeeeeeeee….
-David J. Bilinsky, Vancouver, BC.
And who else gets all that information about what you do and where you do it, and what do those people/businesses do with it? Does the owner have any choice in those questions?
John
All good questions. The Fitbit privacy policy can be found here: https://www.fitbit.com/privacy
Of course as lawyers we all read the privacy policy, don’t we?
And it is everyone’s choice to agree to sign up for the service or not…so sharing their information should be a conscious decision.
Fitbit has stated:
“How We Use Your Data
Fitbit uses your data to provide you with the best experience possible, to help you make the most of your fitness, and to improve and protect the Fitbit Service. Here are some examples:
Height, weight, gender and age are used to estimate the number of calories you burn.
Contact information is used to send you notifications, allow other Fitbit users to add you as a friend, and to inform you about new features or products we think you would be interested in. Please see “Can I Opt-out Of Receiving Fitbit Emails?” for information on how you can opt-out of future communications.
Data and logs are used in research to understand and improve the Fitbit Device and Fitbit Service; to troubleshoot the Fitbit Service; to detect and protect against error, fraud or other criminal activity; and to enforce the Fitbit Terms of Service.
De-identified data that does not identify you may be used to inform the health community about trends; for marketing and promotional use; or for sale to interested audiences. See “Sharing of De-identified Data That Does Not Identify You” to learn more.”
Cheers,
Dave