Is It Possible I'm Hooked on This Wearable Device?

An atmosphere of feeling of anticipation. I can see the cold breath exhaled by my fellow runners as they do the "starting line" wiggle on the beginning point.

A swift flick of the hips.

I'm at my local weekly parkrun event and I'm focused. Three, two, one...

Oh, hang on. I must sort my device. As does the person beside me.

The person in the line sighs. I'm not moving until… yes! GPS ready, and I'm running.

Amidst the crowd, it's challenging to find a wrist without a smartwatch on it. And it's not just us athletes who rely on them.

It's a thriving, multi-billion pound market. Brands like Samsung Galaxy lead the market, all offering an extensive array of diverse models to cater to a variety of budgets. According to how high tech the watch you go for, prices can vary between £100 to a small fortune.

"It drives me insane, it's impossible to switch off."

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

"Please don't notify me about a bad night's sleep."

A small sample of the responses people have shared from other smartwatch wearers when I inquire what they think of theirs.

The Data Dilemma

My thoughts on my own device? Right now, frustrating. It's reporting my speed is wrong, causing me to question whether the foliage along my route are blocking my GPS connection.

Millions of us strap these small gadgets onto our arms and wear them constantly, apparently comfortable with the fact they're continuously monitoring us.

Gone are the days when we relied on them only to give us an estimation of our step count. Today, they can analyse our sleep patterns, stress levels, glucose levels, our recovery score.

It's difficult to find a bodily function they aren't designed to measure.

But do they do what they say they do? And are the numbers we obsess over a accurate representation of the truth? Do they boost our daily wellness, or do the multitude of readings and motivational messages just contribute to our daily stresses?

Addiction or Aid?

"I do get a a little fixated with mine," one user admits.

While she appreciates how her device records her workouts, she finds some of its other functions "overwhelming" at times - a feeling first discovered during a major life event.

Prior to discovering she could put it into a specific mode, her smartwatch repeatedly informed her she was not being active enough. Later on, the watch keeps telling her she's had a restless night.

"I have a infant, I don't need to be informed my sleep was poor," she says. "That fact is only too well."

Couldn't she just remove it?

"It's possible, perhaps, but I have this love-hate relationship with it," she says. "I value it for its fitness insights, but I'm unsure whether the additional features it can now do is possibly too much for me."

How Do They Work?

Each model of smartwatch has its own novel way of measuring your vitals and interpreting your data, but the most use sensors on the underside of the watch.

They commonly project minute LED lights onto your wrist which can monitor pulsation, recording your pulse rate. Sophisticated devices analyse changes in the electrical current that passes over the skin to get an idea of your stress levels.

Expert Perspectives

One expert says that overall for smartwatches, it's a "difficult line" - while the continuously improving tech could potentially save lives, "detecting disease before we feel unwell", it could also turn us the tracked into the "concerned but fine".

He points out that some of the latest wearables can conduct tests like electrocardiograms (ECGs), which regularly monitor how stable the heart is. They can flag if someone is experiencing an irregular rhythm, where there is irregular impulses in the heart causing an irregular heartbeat.

This does not necessarily indicate someone is on the verge of a heart attack, but it can give an advance notice they might be more vulnerable of a blood clot in the long term.

But how to make sense of these figures is complicated. The expert worries that as further capabilities are incorporated, people may find it hard to fully contextualise their data.

"I'm not entirely convinced that the ability to monitor so much data is such a positive development," he says.

A clinical psychologist focusing on patient behaviour echoes this sentiment. Her work into the effect of wearable tech on a cohort of cardiovascular patients suggested a noticeable percentage of those who were given devices to monitor their condition experienced greater stress and were "far more likely to use doctor's time".

She observed a vicious circle with her patients - they noticed a concerning reading on their watch. They felt anxious. Their heart rate increased. They got increasingly anxious. They checked again, and their anxiety went up again.

"Upon viewing data about ourselves that we can't properly interpret then, of course, we are going to seek clarification," the psychologist says. "We check, we re-check - it becomes a feedback loop."