While we all enjoy keeping fit – within reason – it’s troubling to know that our exercise habits could soon be under the watchful eye of a new Big Brother-style fitness checker.
DirectLife, a gadget brought to us by Philips, measures your activity levels and calculates how many calories you burn
in a day – all day.
As small as a postage stamp, DirectLife must be worn at ALL times – in a pocket or attached to a bracelet or necklace. It’s waterproof so calories you burn when washing your hair are tallied up too. The data is uploaded daily via USB and put into a centralised database for checking.
American companies have started using the nifty little device to monitor how fit their employees are, setting them off against performance benchmarks. British employers are set to follow suit early next year: terrifying.
Currently, 25,000 employees at 30 large firms in the USA are using DirectLife. It’s thought the move will cut healthcare costs of those not meeting a recommended daily level of exercise.
Why not!
With that in mind, perhaps it isn’t a bad idea? A few more lunges a day wouldn’t do us any harm here in Britain. Could this be a push in the right direction?
Obesity is a major problem in this country, with an increasing number of people suffering from heart disease, high blood pressure and liver failure. Those in positions of responsibility should be doing something to tackle this…
But where do we draw the line? Aren’t we already ruled by our blackberries, iPhones, on-tap internet, twitter, rolling
Do we need a push to get outside?
news.
Being attached to another machine which analyses us 24/7 is creepy, at best. At worst, it is smacks strongly of an Orwellian state. One in which the calorie value of a sneeze is recorded, where lifts are a guilty pleasure, where eating a cheeky muffin is a thing of the past.
Working out for work is all very well – being encouraged to stay fit by your boss could have real benefits. But there has to be a switch off point. Exercise is medically proven to alleviate stress. And with all the stress flying around Britain’s beleaguered economy just now, there’s a danger the DirectLife (bad name) could turn one of our few personal outlets into yet another pressure.
A walk in the park
Freedom
When we do work out, however we do it, it’s rewarding because we do it off our own back. The best thing about running through a park is the freedom that comes with it.
Freedom to stop, or walk, do another half an hour, or bump into a mate and go for a pint. We feel elated afterwards because it was self-motivated. A personal hurdle to treasure on our own. Let’s hope this will never change.
Pic:http://www.chizzyandbryan.com/archives/Hyde%20Park.JPG
