The $30 million toe in the water

Wearable technology has become increasingly commonplace, with one in three Britons sporting a smartwatch or fitness band. But experts warn that this trend comes with a mental health cost. Katerina Georgiou, a British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy accredited psychotherapist and clinical supervisor, says that people can become dependent on these devices and that an over-reliance on them can lead to obsessive habits and make missed targets feel like failures.

Research has shown that issues may arise when users rely too heavily on wearable fitness devices, including anxiety, body dissatisfaction and rumination. georgiou also warns that wearable devices could worsen health anxiety, particularly when users try to make sense of health data witohut professional help.

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The rise of wearable technology has been fueled by the trend of tracking and measuring every aspect of daily life. But experts say that this 'optimisation culture' can come at a mental health cost. Georgiou says that people start off with good intentions, wanting to establish some control in their life, but very often what starts off as a form of control can end up taking over, and we can become obsessed with them.

She believes that wearable health technology is designed to keep you using them, and that because the devices are built around a person's own data and habits, they can be difficult to put down. As many devices are linked to mobile phones, they can generate a constant stream of notifications, encouraging users to use them more frequently and , in turn, check their progress throughout the day.

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Steven Bartlett claimed that three days of his life were ruined after his smartwatch data suggested that two glasses of wine had negatively impacted his health. But why do people become dependent on the technology? Georgiou says that people who have a tendency to fixate or suffer with an eating disorder, for example, might already have some behaviours that mean incorporating this extra thing into their life could feed those behaviours.

She also warns that an over-reliance on the gadgets can lead to obsessive habits and make missed targets feel like failures. Instead of someone saying for example, I'm going to track 10,000 steps, it starts to become such a mission where if you only do 9,000 steps, it ruins your day. You end up getting fixated on what you didn't do,which then becomes counterproductive because the whole aim is to improve your life.

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Research has shown that issues may arise when users rely too heavily on wearable fitness devices. A study from Newcastle University, published in the Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, found that the use of the tech was associated with negative emotions. These included anxiety , body dissatisfaction and rumination - the tendency to dwell on negative thoughts. The researchers found that users who failed to meet targets or received negative feedback from their devices were more likely to experience these feelings.

Georgiou also warned that an over-reliance on the gadgets can lead to obsessive habits and make missed targets feel like failures. She said: Instead of someone saying for example, I'm going to track 10,000 steps, it starts to become such a mission where if you only do 9 ,000 steps, it ruins your day. you end up getting fixated on what you didn't do, which then becomes counterproductive because the whole aim is to improve your life.