New paper: Do fitness apps do more harm than good?

New research co-authored by CBC's Dr Lucy Porter analysed over 58,000 posts on X discussing the five most profitable fitness apps. Of these, 13,799 posts had a negative sentiment.

The research identified several negative themes - from the challenges of quantifying diet and physical activity, the complexity of tracking calories and exercise through oversimplified algorithms, technical challenges and malfunctions, and aversive emotional responses to the apps’ notifications.

Dr Lucy Porter said:

We know from previous research that feeling ashamed and miserable about yourself is not going to support healthy, long-term behaviour change. What we need to know now is how pervasive these effects on morale and emotional wellbeing are, and whether there is anything that can be done to adapt fitness apps so that they better meet people’s needs.”

Read the full paper in the British Journal of Health Psychology.