Are fitness trackers actually changing your behavior? One report offers some surprising insight to the true effect of wearable activity trackers. Also featured in this week’s Smart Health roundup is a new smart band and a contest to find the coolest wearable tech in town.

.

Wearable trackers won’t change the real you

According to a survey conducted by Mitesh S. Patel and Kevin G. Volpp from the University of Pennsylvania, there is a tremendous gap between recording data and changing behavior when it comes to using wearable devices, despite their increasing popularity. The authors surveyed 6,223 wearable users and discovered that, for the most part, a majority of users abandon their wearables within six months after purchasing them.

The main reasons for users abandoning these wearable trackers fall into four categories: price, fatigue of the gadget itself, accuracy in tracking and effectiveness of data reporting methods. Even if a person continues to use the wearable fitness tracker and the device continues to collect data, if the wearer doesn’t make an effort to stick to goals and achieve them, the data tracking serves no actual purpose.

If users abandon using wearable trackers within the first six month of purchase, then the devices have failed to impact change in the user’s life, such as helping someone achieve fitness goals, eat healthy, get enough sleep per day and so on.

Goal tracking with FLIP BAND

FLIP BAND, a simple wrist band created by Victor Mathieux, who co-founded productivity startup Everest, aims to make goal-tracking as simple as flipping a band. FLIP BAND is a wristband with two sides. One side reminds you about a goal you want to achieve, and the other side, which you flip to once you finish your goal, represents your success. Mathieux explains on the Kickstarter page of FLIP BAND that the act of wearing the band alone makes it almost impossible to forget your goal.

“I originally had no intention of turning FLIP BAND into a product but after seeing how effective it was for friends and family I had to share it with other people,” Mathieux said on the product’s Kickstarter page.

And the band does not have any batteries, so you don’t need to worry about charging them or having them run down. Will FLIP BAND demonstrate that consumers don’t necessarily need high-tech, expensive gadgets to make a change? Time will tell.

Wearable tech competition hosted by IC tomorrow

Numerous companies are sponsoring a wearable tech competition hosted by IC tomorrow, a division of the U.K.’s Technology Strategy Board. The aim of the competition is to find the next big thing in wearable tech and allow the winners the opportunity to trial their product with industry partners without losing intellectual property.

The companies sponsoring the competition include The Walt Disney Company, which is looking for wearables for kids; McLaren Applied Technologies and Loughborough University, which are looking for sensor technology and tracking performance; and GLH Hotels Management (UK) Limited, which is looking for wearables that would enhance the hotel accommodation experience. Other sponsors are looking for advancements in textiles, something that would react to the environment and more.

The competition will feature six categories: hospitality, entertainment, design, sport and wellbeing, health and safety, and accessibility, with each category heralding a winner who will be awarded £35,000 each.

photo credit: Rain Rabbit via photopin cc