Oh Brave New World
Anyhow, yesterday I decided to try out some of my new Kinect "Your Shape" exercises.
It's a very cool program. Basically, the "game" consists of a bunch of fitness games (like jump rope, shadow boxing, etc.) classes (zumba, latin dance, yoga) and exercises (basic weight lifting, crunches, etc.) that it displays on screen, along side a scan of yourself. It then has a trainer watch you and awards you points (and corrects you if you're not doing it right, showing what you need to change) based on how well you do the displayed exercises. While not as good as a personal trainer, I do find that it does a much better job making me do the exercises correctly than, say, a DVD. (Or an instructor in a busy fitness class.) So it's pretty handy for someone like me who tends to slack off when not being monitored.
Anyway, I've mostly been playing with a few of my favorite programs, but was like, "I should check out some of the others!" So wandered over to a bit that had titles like, "Managing your Diabetes" and "Aging with Grace".
What's interesting is that most of what I'd tried previously had felt kind of broken up. Sure, you could do weight lifting with the program, or pilates. But they were kind of scattered. You'd have to do weight lifting, then pilates, then an aerobics game to really get a complete work out. This one was much more, "Do this, then that, then that" in a 30 minute chain. Which I guess is nice, but...why not just label these as "basic weight loss program"? Or "overall fitness" or whatever? Why tag then specifically as managing various illnesses or life conditions?
My sinister theory is that this is becuase those very programs are designed *to* manage life conditions. And perhaps not in the way you expect.
You see, doctors are already experimenting with using RFIDs in medications to improve patient compliance. From a purely logistical standpoint, this is a great idea. Patients are better at taking their pills (at least in the study). Automatic reminders can be triggered if they don't. And doctors know exactly what happened if they come into the ER. (Not to mention can avoid over prescribing/under prescribing medication.) Of course, this also brings in all kinds of creepy privacy issues. (And if insurance companies don't try to raise premiums for non-compliers, I'd be astounded.)
So that covers pill non-compliance. But what about...lifestyle stuff? Like exercise?
Well, the Kinect already connects to the Internet. It already has basic facial recognition software. So...why not use it to ensure that if you're told that you must do a certain amount of exercise a certain number of times a week that you do it?
I don't know that this is what "Your Shape" is trying to do. (Right now, it's pretty rudimentary, near as I can tell. Yes, you can track and share progress. Yes, you can take a whole series of programs meant to improve heart health. But I'm fairly sure that it's not set up to transmit whether you exercised or not to your doctor. Yet.) But I am wondering whether that's in the works...(Because if it's not yet, I suspect that it *will* be.)
Interesting, no? But kind of creepy at the same time...
It's a very cool program. Basically, the "game" consists of a bunch of fitness games (like jump rope, shadow boxing, etc.) classes (zumba, latin dance, yoga) and exercises (basic weight lifting, crunches, etc.) that it displays on screen, along side a scan of yourself. It then has a trainer watch you and awards you points (and corrects you if you're not doing it right, showing what you need to change) based on how well you do the displayed exercises. While not as good as a personal trainer, I do find that it does a much better job making me do the exercises correctly than, say, a DVD. (Or an instructor in a busy fitness class.) So it's pretty handy for someone like me who tends to slack off when not being monitored.
Anyway, I've mostly been playing with a few of my favorite programs, but was like, "I should check out some of the others!" So wandered over to a bit that had titles like, "Managing your Diabetes" and "Aging with Grace".
What's interesting is that most of what I'd tried previously had felt kind of broken up. Sure, you could do weight lifting with the program, or pilates. But they were kind of scattered. You'd have to do weight lifting, then pilates, then an aerobics game to really get a complete work out. This one was much more, "Do this, then that, then that" in a 30 minute chain. Which I guess is nice, but...why not just label these as "basic weight loss program"? Or "overall fitness" or whatever? Why tag then specifically as managing various illnesses or life conditions?
My sinister theory is that this is becuase those very programs are designed *to* manage life conditions. And perhaps not in the way you expect.
You see, doctors are already experimenting with using RFIDs in medications to improve patient compliance. From a purely logistical standpoint, this is a great idea. Patients are better at taking their pills (at least in the study). Automatic reminders can be triggered if they don't. And doctors know exactly what happened if they come into the ER. (Not to mention can avoid over prescribing/under prescribing medication.) Of course, this also brings in all kinds of creepy privacy issues. (And if insurance companies don't try to raise premiums for non-compliers, I'd be astounded.)
So that covers pill non-compliance. But what about...lifestyle stuff? Like exercise?
Well, the Kinect already connects to the Internet. It already has basic facial recognition software. So...why not use it to ensure that if you're told that you must do a certain amount of exercise a certain number of times a week that you do it?
I don't know that this is what "Your Shape" is trying to do. (Right now, it's pretty rudimentary, near as I can tell. Yes, you can track and share progress. Yes, you can take a whole series of programs meant to improve heart health. But I'm fairly sure that it's not set up to transmit whether you exercised or not to your doctor. Yet.) But I am wondering whether that's in the works...(Because if it's not yet, I suspect that it *will* be.)
Interesting, no? But kind of creepy at the same time...