Changes

Unhealthy products are ubiquitous. Many foods are designed to be sold, often without concern for the health of the customer. Technological innovation grows so fast that culture and regulators (FDA) cannot keep up.<ref>One-Third Of New Drugs Had Safety Problems After Approval : Shots - Health News : NPR</ref> This turns in to a [[Digital addiction]] epidemic because of games like flappy bird, and apps like Facebook and Youtube.  

Unhealthy products are ubiquitous. Many foods are designed to be sold, often without concern for the health of the customer. Technological innovation grows so fast that culture and regulators (FDA) cannot keep up.<ref>One-Third Of New Drugs Had Safety Problems After Approval : Shots - Health News : NPR</ref> This turns in to a [[Digital addiction]] epidemic because of games like flappy bird, and apps like Facebook and Youtube.  

Travel can be unhealthy in unexpected ways. Quality of sanitation and health care varies between countries. Health advisories about foreign countries are abundant. Digital nomads, or anyone that travels great a lot, should maintain a diary of symptoms to notice uncommon diseases. Productivity can suffer unnoticeably.  

Travel can be unhealthy in unexpected ways. Quality of sanitation and health care varies between countries. Health advisories about foreign countries are abundant. Digital nomads, or anyone that travels great a lot, should maintain a diary of symptoms to notice uncommon diseases. Productivity can suffer unnoticeably, because of stress or new environment affects traveler's judgement.  

Long term monitoring provides safety baselines for self-experimentation. Just imagine someone trying out long term [[Fasting]] or nootropics and not noticing dangerous changes to their normal state. In addition, if someone who does not experiment ever decide to experiment, they will have lots of baseline data to compare against data gained during interventions.   

Long term monitoring provides safety baselines for self-experimentation. Just imagine someone trying out long term [[Fasting]] or nootropics and not noticing dangerous changes to their normal state. In addition, if someone who does not experiment ever decide to experiment, they will have lots of baseline data to compare against data gained during interventions.   

Unfortunately, many industries that promise such improvements are filled with conflicting information and scams.<ref>https://disb.dc.gov/page/beware-weight-loss-scams</ref> Consumers avoid buying products from such industries because they are not sure if there was any benefit from any specific product. Tracking of outcomes fixes this problem and encourages consumers to search for better products.   

Unfortunately, many industries that promise such improvements are filled with conflicting information and scams.<ref>https://disb.dc.gov/page/beware-weight-loss-scams</ref> Consumers avoid buying products from such industries because they are not sure if there was any benefit from any specific product. Tracking of outcomes fixes this problem and encourages consumers to search for better products.   

   

   

Health tracking encourages experimentation and constant self improvement.  People have gone through their entire life without finding drastic life improvements because they simply did not experiment systematically. What if you are that kind of person?  

Health tracking encourages experimentation and constant self improvement.  People have gone through their entire life without finding drastic life improvements because they simply did not experiment systematically. What if you are that kind of person?  

Tracking is itself motivating. Most smart watches, the most popular wearable, produce lots of motivating information and nudges. Share accomplishments with friends to get external motivation. [[Gamification]], the idea of dressing up real world as a game to make real world things more fun, seems popular and it requires some tracking. The self tracker has access to many other behavior change techniques, including; cool new tech, cool art, competition, empowering healthful communities, financial punishment, and guilt. Just watching the numbers improve or even be recorded can be motivating and build healthy habits; according to personal experience [[User:DG|DG]] ([[User talk:DG|talk]]) and Atomic Habits book. Feeling in control, and mastering yourself and skills, can be strong intrinsic motivation.   

Tracking is itself motivating. Most smart watches, the most popular wearable, produce lots of motivating information and nudges. Share accomplishments with friends to get external motivation. [[Gamification]], the idea of dressing up real world as a game to make real world things more fun, seems popular and it requires some tracking. The self tracker has access to many other behavior change techniques, including; cool new tech, cool art, competition, empowering healthful communities, financial punishment, and guilt. Just watching the numbers improve or even be recorded can be motivating and build healthy habits; according to personal experience [[User:DG|DG]] ([[User talk:DG|talk]]) and Atomic Habits book. Feeling in control, and mastering yourself and skills, can be strong intrinsic motivation.   

Unfortunately, when things are not going well, people will become demotivated and even hide the event from their history.  The negative effects of self tracking on motivation is mentioned in section arguments against tracking.

Unfortunately, when things are not going well, people will become demotivated and even hide the event from their history.  The negative effects of self tracking on motivation is mentioned in section arguments against tracking.

Never the less, self trackers can make more data available.<ref>https://www.mobihealthnews.com/news/most-health-apps-have-ability-collect-and-share-patient-data-study-finds</ref> In particular, many devices measure stress and [[Mood]] through [[Tools for heart rate or pulse|heart rate]] and [[Galvanic skin response]], kind of like a polygraph.<ref>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polygraph</ref><ref>https://www.wareable.com/wearable-tech/wearables-that-track-emotion-7278</ref><ref>https://www.heartmath.com/tech/</ref>   

Never the less, self trackers can make more data available.<ref>https://www.mobihealthnews.com/news/most-health-apps-have-ability-collect-and-share-patient-data-study-finds</ref> In particular, many devices measure stress and [[Mood]] through [[Tools for heart rate or pulse|heart rate]] and [[Galvanic skin response]], kind of like a polygraph.<ref>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polygraph</ref><ref>https://www.wareable.com/wearable-tech/wearables-that-track-emotion-7278</ref><ref>https://www.heartmath.com/tech/</ref>   

Such data has ended up in the hands of employers to squeeze the most out of their employees, as well as mortgage lenders, and insurers to adjust rates.<ref>https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03085147.2019.1570707</ref> It was even used to support discrimination and as evidence in court.<ref>https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2018/01/29/strava-fitness-data-location-privacy-scare/</ref><ref>https://mashable.com/article/period-apps-roe-v-wade</ref>   

Such data has ended up in the hands of employers to squeeze the most out of their employees, as well as mortgage lenders, and insurers to adjust rates.<ref>https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03085147.2019.1570707</ref> It was even used to support discrimination and as evidence in court.<ref>https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2018/01/29/strava-fitness-data-location-privacy-scare/</ref><ref>https://mashable.com/article/period-apps-roe-v-wade</ref><ref>flcourts.gov/content/download/881800/file/Pacemakers%20Fitbits%20and%204th%20Amendment.pdf</ref>   

Self tracker has some options for defense. Data protection regulations grow.<ref>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Data_Protection_Regulation</ref> Government classified [[Commercial, Medical Device, or Open Source|Medical Devices]] make medical data and that data is under more protection than basic commercial device data. Data can be anonymized, though often its not hard to deanonymize it. User should choose companies with terms of service that require opting into user tracking programs. [[Commercial, Medical Device, or Open Source|Open source]] apps, and some commercial ones, are under your complete control and will not mind if the device it runs on never connects to the internet. This wiki will note open source tools and tools with exceptional demand or lack there of for user data.

Self tracker has some options for defense. Data protection regulations grow.<ref>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Data_Protection_Regulation</ref> Government classified [[Commercial, Medical Device, or Open Source|Medical Devices]] make medical data and that data is under more protection than basic commercial device data. Data can be anonymized, though often its not hard to deanonymize it. User should choose companies with terms of service that require opting into user tracking programs. [[Commercial, Medical Device, or Open Source|Open source]] apps, and some commercial ones, are under your complete control and will not mind if the device it runs on never connects to the internet. This wiki will note open source tools and tools with exceptional demand or lack there of for user data.