I discovered Samsung Health on my Galaxy S4. OK. I keep my phone in my pocket and it tells me that I walk about 3700 steps in a typical day as a teacher. It also pops up with little messages to tell me that I need to be more active if I'm going to reach my target of 6000. I have no idea where that came from so it must be come sort of default that I didn't bother to change.
It also lets me track how many cups of coffee I have each day (in case I can't count to one) and how much water I drink (more useful since I tend to forget to drink water). Oh wait, that reminds me ...
... OK, I'm back. That's one for today, although since I drink out of a 12oz glass I'm not sure if that counts as 1 1/2, but since I don't fill it all the way to the top maybe that's ... oh, never mind. One glass of water.
However, today I tested the "Going running" part of the app. It won't let me run without choosing a target so I chose Distance target. I don't actually care because I have two runs, one that is two miles if I just need a stretch and a second that is 3.5 miles if I feel like getting a good workout. There was a pace option but I suspect that it would constantly interrupt my podcasts to tell me I was going too slow or too fast.
After a mile a voice broke in to tell me that I had run a mile and that I was going slowly. It then broke in about halfway through the 3.5 miles, again at three miles to tell me that I was almost there and to keep it up. I suppose that this is useful information but since I don't run on a track (hate them) it doesn't really matter how far I've gone. I finish when I get home. It was nice to have the timer since I almost always forget to look at the time when I leave and/or when I get home.
So why post on the blog? It got me to thinking about nagging apps. The pop-ups periodically telling me to be more active. The voice telling me how fast I'm running and how far I've gone. Are they really necessary or do they fulfill some need for reassurance that someone cares?
Just wondering.
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