In January of 2014, I purchased a Jawbone UP24. It was a bit of a splurge; $150 for one of the more advanced activity trackers on the market at the time. Fast forward to almost a year and a half later and after one replacement band, I’ve already moved on to the more petite Jawbone UP Move.
Why did I decide to switch? Well first of all, I could already tell that my replacement band was on its way out. The button at the tip was already compressed far into the band and it would occasionally have a tough time syncing.
Only a few days into its usage and I think it’s already won me over.
One thing I have noticed about it though is that it seems to record a lot more steps than the UP24 band. Does this mean my Jawbone had been recording less activity than what I was actually doing?
It poses the question of activity tracker accuracy: when it comes to steps, does accuracy even matter? Or is it more about trend data?
Here is an example: let’s say you took 8,032 steps one day, 6,533 the next day, and then 9,378 steps the third day.
I think it’s more important to note that there was a decrease from day one to day two (negative change), but then there was a significant improvement on the third day (positive change).
So rather than mull over whether or not a trip to the bathroom is 30 steps or 40 steps, I think it’s more important to note the change in how many trips you take one day over another day. Thoughts?
“If you had to write a bio about yourself, what would it say?” my therapist asked me one day.
It’s Father’s Day so to remember my dad, I want to tell a story about him. A few years ago, my mom was browsing the paper one Sunday morning when she came across a diamond ring that was on sale. “Oh look at this diamond ring,” she said to my dad. “It’s nice isn’t it?”