The Dark Side of Fitness Apps

Introduction to the Problem

Is your phone sabotaging your gains? New research suggests that popular calorie-counting and workout-tracking apps may be doing more harm than good, leaving users feeling frustrated rather than fired up to reach their goals. That’s bad news for the 92 million Americans who rely on these platforms to track every bite and bench press, raising questions about whether the tech meant to help them is actually holding them back.

The Rise of Digital Health Tracking

Digital health tracking apps have surged in popularity in recent years. Prostock-studio – stock.adobe.com
In the study, researchers at University College London and Loughborough University analyzed 58,881 posts on X (formerly Twitter) about five popular fitness apps. Using artificial intelligence, the team sifted through the data and identified 13,799 posts where users expressed negative feelings about the programs.

Negative Emotional Effects

“In these posts, we found a lot of blame and shame, with people feeling they were not doing as well as they should be,” senior author Dr. Paulina Bondaronek said in a press release. “These emotional effects may end up harming people’s motivation and their health.” Bondaronek and her colleagues sorted the posts into broad themes to get a clearer picture of users’ struggles.

Complications and Unrealistic Goals

They found that many expressed frustration at how complicated it was to track calories, with some saying the platforms weren’t personalized enough to be accurate. One user, for instance, pointed out that they couldn’t log breastfeeding, an activity that burns a significant number of calories. Health tracking apps sometimes set unrealistic or dangerous goals. fizkes – stock.adobe.com
The goals set by the platforms also aren’t based on public health guidelines, but on the user’s personal weight targets — which the researchers said can lead to unrealistic or even unsafe recommendations. One user reported being told they needed to consume “−700 (negative 700) calories a day” to reach their target weight.

Emotional Toll and Technical Issues

Another major theme the researchers uncovered was the emotional toll of logging daily activity. Some users said they felt “pestered” by notifications to log calories or keep sugar intake low. Intended to encourage consistency, the reminders often sparked judgment and anxiety, with some avoiding certain foods just to dodge negative feedback — undermining the very purpose of self-monitoring. Health tracking apps can lead to feelings of anxiety and shame when goals aren’t met. Studio Romantic – stock.adobe.com
Users also reported technical glitches that added to their frustrations, like mismatched calorie counts when syncing the same workout across platforms and app crashes that erased hours of effort.

Impact on Motivation and Enjoyment

Negative sentiments like these align with previous studies showing that measuring an activity can reduce enjoyment. Combined with unattainable goals, mounting shame and tech problems, the researchers found many users end up giving up. Diligently tracking your physical activity might take some of the joy out of exercising. blackzheep – stock.adobe.com
“Self-monitoring and action planning are powerful behaviour change techniques. But we over-use them. We need to learn to be kinder to ourselves,” Bondaronek said. “We are good at blaming and shaming because we think it will help us to do better but actually it has the opposite effect.”

Limitations and Future Directions

Bondaronek noted some limitations to the study. For example, the team only looked at negative posts, so they couldn’t assess the overall effects of the platforms on users’ well-being. “The apps may have a negative side, but they likely also provide benefits to many people,” she said. Looking ahead, the researchers are calling on health apps to revamp their designs. They’d like to see user-centered, psychologically informed platforms that prioritize well-being and intrinsic motivation over rigid quantitative goals like weight loss.

The Power of Social Connectedness

“Many of these apps also ask users to do tasks individually,” Bondaronek said. “This misses out the great potential of social connectedness for improving our health and happiness.”

Conclusion

The research highlights the potential downsides of relying heavily on fitness apps for health and wellness. While these apps can provide useful tracking and motivation tools, their emphasis on quantitative goals and self-monitoring can lead to negative emotional effects, decreased motivation, and a diminished enjoyment of physical activity. It’s essential for app developers to consider these findings and strive to create more balanced, user-friendly, and supportive platforms that prioritize overall well-being.

FAQs

• Q: Are all fitness apps harmful?
  A: No, not all fitness apps are harmful. However, some may have features that lead to negative emotional effects, unrealistic goals, and technical issues.
• Q: How can I use fitness apps in a healthy way?
  A: Use apps that prioritize well-being, set realistic goals, and focus on intrinsic motivation. It’s also important to maintain a balance between tracking progress and enjoying physical activity without the app.
• Q: What changes should health app developers make?
  A: Developers should focus on creating user-centered, psychologically informed platforms that prioritize well-being and social connectedness, rather than just quantitative goals like weight loss.