Could I Be Addicted to My Smartwatch?

An atmosphere of nervous excitement. I can see the frosty air emanating from my rivals as they execute the "about to run" wiggle on the starting line.

A swift flick of the hips.

I'm participating in my local 5km community parkrun and I'm focused. The countdown begins...

Oh, hang on. I have to start my device. The same goes for the guy alongside me.

The person behind us sighs. I refuse to go until… there! GPS ready, and I'm running.

Amidst the crowd, it's challenging to find a arm without a smartwatch on it. And it's not just us runners who wear them.

This is a booming, multi-billion pound market. Names like Apple Watch dominate, each with an broad range of diverse devices to cater to a spectrum of needs. Depending on how feature-packed the watch you go for, price tags can start from £100 to thousands of pounds.

"I find it infuriating, it's impossible to relax."

"It comforts me… It's like a supporter supporting me."

"Please don't notify me I've had a restless night."

A handful of the responses I've received from like-minded tracker enthusiasts when I question what they feel about theirs.

A Sea of Statistics

My current opinion on my own device? Right now, irritating. It's telling me my speed is wrong, causing me to question whether the overhead branches I'm passing under are blocking my GPS connection.

A vast number of us attach these little devices onto our wrists and wear them all day and night, seemingly comfortable with the fact they're constantly recording us.

Long past are the days when we relied on them solely to give us an rough count of our daily steps. Today, they can analyse our sleep patterns, stress levels, oxygen saturation, our VO2 max.

It's difficult to find a physical metric they aren't designed to measure.

But do they do what they claim to do? And are the statistics we scrutinise a faithful picture of reality? Do they enhance our daily wellness, or do the avalanche of measurements and motivational messages just add to our sense of overwhelm?

A Love-Hate Relationship

"I become a bit preoccupied with mine," an individual admits.

While she appreciates how her device monitors her workouts, she finds some of its other functions "excessive" at times - a feeling initially realised during a pregnancy.

Prior to discovering she could adjust the settings, her smartwatch kept telling her she was not being productive enough. In a new phase, the watch keeps telling her she's had a restless night.

"I am caring for a infant, there's no point to be told my sleep was poor," she says. "I'm acutely aware perfectly well."

Why doesn't she just take it off?

"It's possible, theoretically, but I'm in this push-pull dynamic with it," she continues. "I appreciate it for its exercise data, I sometimes question whether all the other things it can now do is possibly too much for me."

Inside the Device

Each model of smartwatch has its own proprietary way of measuring your vitals and interpreting your data, but the majority use sensors on the reverse of the watch.

They usually emit small, green LED lights onto your arm which can observe blood flow, recording your heartbeat. More advanced devices analyse changes in the electrical current that runs through the skin to assess your nervous system activity.

The Professional Viewpoint

A data scientist says that in general for smartwatches, it's a "delicate equilibrium" - while the rapidly advancing tech could realistically prevent illness, "detecting disease before we notice anything", it could also turn us the tracked into the "anxious healthy".

He points out that newer wearables can carry out tests like heart rhythm analysis, which continuously monitor how normal the heart is. They can notify if someone is experiencing an irregular rhythm, where there is irregular impulses in the heart causing an irregular heartbeat.

This does not mean someone is imminently going to suffer a cardiac event, but it can give an advance notice they might be more vulnerable of a heart problem in the long term.

But how to interpret these numbers is complex. The expert fears that as additional features are incorporated, people may struggle to fully understand their data.

"I have some doubts that the ability to monitor so much data is such a positive development," he says.

A clinical psychologist studying cardiology concurs. Her work into the effect of wearable tech on a specific group of individuals with health issues suggested a significant portion of those who were given devices to monitor their heart health experienced increased anxiety and were "far more likely to use healthcare resources".

She observed a pattern with her patients - they noticed a concerning reading on their watch. They felt anxious. Their heart rate increased. They got increasingly anxious. They re-examined the data, and their reading rose further.

"When people are presented with stats about ourselves that we don't really understand then, naturally, we are going to become concerned," the psychologist says. "We look, we obsess - it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy."