Fitbits, Fitbits, Everywhere

While I was researching information about an article I was writing about fitbits, I learned a lot.
Perhaps I learned more than I was bargaining for.

Fitbits are super cool product with their ability to connect us to our data.  However some of the future and new uses of this product, such as telling your life insurer that you took too few steps today is... a bit odd to me.

Alas, the future is here and we must learn about it:

Fitbit the Pioneer:

Fitbit is a pioneer in heath wearables.  These are connected devices, that essentially transmit information for you to review.  This can include calories burned, steps taken, miles walked, heart rate.  You get the data collection concept.  The other thing that Fitbit does is it gently reminds users to do healthy activities.  This includes reminders to do Yoga or Stretch as examples.   This is a pretty cool concept.

Others Doing the Same:

Of course Fitbit is not the only company doing this.  Garmin has been a leader in the field of geotracking for some time now.  Want to know how many miles you ran yesterday?  Or the location of your boat on a given river?  Garmin is there to assist.   Apple, with their watch is also wanting to get into the market.  The apple watch may be expensive but it can really do a ton.

Cell Phones Too:

But it does not end with devices.  Cell phones through their operating systems (Apple and Android) both can connect to a ton of Bluetooth devices to provide all manor of electronic data.

The Growth:

Fitbit has grown and grown very very fast.  According to the Motley Fool, Fitbit had 6.7 Million connected users in 2014.  In 2015 they had 16.9 Million and 2016 got this to 23.2 Million People!  But in 2017 the number got up to 25,400,000 people that are connected.  Obviously its tapering a bit.  But still growing wildly....

Now What to Do with this Data:

But that bring us to the central point of my short blog piece here - What do we do with all of this health, location, and other data?
Cold Case Evidence aside, when will we ever really need to know how many steps we took on a given Tuesday?  Please put aside the usefulness of losing weight, that I get. Beyond that - what is the real purpose of all of this mountain of data?

If you printed this all out - where might you store it.  If you think your photo pile is getting too big think of all of the data that these devices generate.  Each and Every day - regardless of if you want the data collected, it is collected.  It just grows and grows.

Data a problem of Storage:

Luckily, its not printed out and it is just electronic data.  However even that has... concerns.  Where does all of this data get stored.  Doubtless on some Amazon Web Server somewhere.  Perhaps I could go onto Fitbit website and find out more about how the data is stored.  Do I own the rights to it, or does Facebook.  If I sound slightly un-knowledgeable about it, that is probably the case.  Maybe Elon Musk has the ultimate solution.

I have a multitude of other questions concerning these devices.  Perhaps one day I will learn more.

Knowledge is Food for Thought.