“Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand; instead of a million count half a dozen, and keep your accounts on your thumb nail.”
― Henry David Thoreau, Walden
My old watch is a beat-up Rolex, but, the watch I’ve worn for the past five years is a FitBit Alta HR.
My FitBit collects data on my steps, my heart rate, and my sleep, and, with its iPhone App, it also collects my weight (via my Fitbit Aria scale), my exercise, and my food intake.
FitBit is a complex data ecosystem, and I have developed complex habits to continuously feed it with data. I input my food, I add exercise, I weigh myself on my electronic scale, I charge it daily, and I read weekly emails.
So, has it helped me maintain or improve my health? (For purposes of this blog I am defining “health” as fitness, optimized weight, and high quality, adequate sleep.)
No. My weight continues to drift up, I walk and exercise less, and I still sleep less than 5 hours a day.
So perhaps it’s time to go back to my old Rolex? It doesn’t keep time quite as well, and it collects no data, but it does feel good wearing it. I like the weight, the substantialness, on my wrist. Plus, haven’t I given Google (which is FitBit) enough of my data?
Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity!
It’s time.