Like Donald, I sometimes find inspiration for my blogs in The Sunday Times. An article I found especially interesting yesterday concerned the proliferation of technology and devices for self-monitoring and behavioral change.

The focus of the article was an MIT professor and her proposition that the primary function of these devices have changed from informing users about the nature of their activity to prodding the users to change their activity. Specifically, she discussed software she used called, Freedom, which temporarily blocked internet access to her computer which essentially forced her to stop browsing and focus on writing. I should probably look into installing that into my office computer. It would save me a lot of money in spontaneous internet shopping when I am procrastinating from getting work done.

At the forefront of this movement was the explosion of fitness activity and health trackers, such as the Fitbit and the Jawbone. These devices appear to be on the wrists of almost everyone I see. These exercise and health trackers have expanded to behavior modification devices such as hydration reminder apps, reminding the user to increase their water consumption and the HAPIfork, a utensil that vibrates and turns on a light indicator when people eat too quickly.

One of the underlying premises of the article was that almost all of our behavior can now be monitored and changed through the use of technology. I haven’t gotten on the tracker movement yet; I don’t own a Fitbit and prefer to self-monitor my exercise and my daily habits. As with most of technology, I am still several steps behind. What about you?