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Breakup, as captured by my fitbit

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Re: Breakup, as captured by my fitbit

#31

Post by duaneb »

funkysquid wrote: post #8

This is fascinating (and sad), but it makes me wonder, could police use your fitness tracker as a sort of poor-mans polygraph? i.e. interview a subject normally, and then get a warrant (or not get a warrant) to view the online data and correlate them after the fact? Wikipedia mentions "blood pressure, pulse, respiration, and skin conductivity" as parameters for a polygraph [1], and while fitbit only supports 2/4 righ…

Considering how terrible polygraphs are, you could use any number of stress-related metrics for an equivalent level of information.

Re: Breakup, as captured by my fitbit

#32

Post by myth_buster »

thedz wrote: post #2

I once left my fitbit in the wash (and then dryer) and was wondering why I was suddenly getting all these "congrats on hitting your steps goal!" alerts on my phone.

Got a badge for climbing 33 stairs + a plethora of others, while in actuality I was riding my motorcycle.

Re: Breakup, as captured by my fitbit

#33

Post by Jtsummers »

protomyth wrote: post #27
Jtsummers wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except it wouldn't work. If Fitbit is collecting my data, and I'm not intending a breakup, then my heart rate now is independent of what my partner will be doing or saying in five minutes when they break up with me. It'd only really be useful if it collected your partner's data and fed it to you. However, you'll see similar spikes from your partner before any major relationship event. They want you to meet their fami…

Given that these gadgets will probably all be location aware, I'm pretty sure the company[1] can figure out who you're dating and what stress they have. Basically, triggering your reaction to the breakup will probably get a search on what your former significant other was feeling and the data processing would probably happen from that end. I really don't want to deal with that world. 1) both people need to be using t…

Again, though, it only indicates that your partner is stressed, and potentially that they're stressed about the encounter they're about to have with you. It doesn't measure enough (assuming there's enough to measure) to know the difference between "He's going to break up with you." and "He's been fired and doesn't know how to tell you."

Re: Breakup, as captured by my fitbit

#37

Post by protomyth »

Jtsummers wrote: post #33
protomyth wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given that these gadgets will probably all be location aware, I'm pretty sure the company[1] can figure out who you're dating and what stress they have. Basically, triggering your reaction to the breakup will probably get a search on what your former significant other was feeling and the data processing would probably happen from that end. I really don't want to deal with that world. 1) both people need to be using t…

Again, though, it only indicates that your partner is stressed, and potentially that they're stressed about the encounter they're about to have with you. It doesn't measure enough (assuming there's enough to measure) to know the difference between "He's going to break up with you." and "He's been fired and doesn't know how to tell you."

I would imagine that's true in the current iteration, but I'm not so sure it will stay true. I'm also not sure how much external data they can get their hands on to start looking at connections with other parts of your life. Target's little snafu with telling a father his daughter was pregnant has made me think a lot more about sensors combined with big data.

Re: Breakup, as captured by my fitbit

#38

Post by Analemma_ »

state wrote: post #3

Perhaps if everyone tagged their breakup moments on their fitbits then fitbit could mass-process the preceding few months / weeks to find a common pattern. You show up a few minutes early to the restaurant and your fitbit can just let you know what's about to happen.

Or worse: what if it could only express it as a probability. You show up a few minutes early to the restaurant and your fitbit can only say, "There's a 35% chance they're about to propose, a 20% they're breaking up with you, 45% chance it's just dinner." Gah.

Cory Doctorow or William Gibson: if you guys are looking for story ideas, you can have that one for free.

Re: Breakup, as captured by my fitbit

#39

Post by JadeNB »

jreed91 wrote: post #35

This just reminds me on how no one has made the killer app for all these sensors. It's just data, no one has shown me how to make myself better from all this data.

It reminds me of how, in response to the popularisation of the 'science' of graphology, schools popped up teaching you how to mimic the handwriting that a graphologist would associate with desireable personality traits.

Re: Breakup, as captured by my fitbit

#40

Post by JadeNB »

overcast wrote: post #26
state wrote: post #3

Perhaps if everyone tagged their breakup moments on their fitbits then fitbit could mass-process the preceding few months / weeks to find a common pattern. You show up a few minutes early to the restaurant and your fitbit can just let you know what's about to happen.

I'll let in on a secret as to when a breakup is about to happen. Communication between the couple plummets, and is usually one sided, heavily weighted towards the side doing the breakup. Happens, every single time.

> Communication between the couple plummets, and is usually one sided, heavily weighted towards the side doing the breakup.

I agree with the first part, but am not so sure about the second. If the breaker-upper doesn't want to break up, then I can believe that he or she will communicate more; but, if the breaker-upper does want to break up, then I can believe that he or she might withdraw and communicate less. (I'm not sure which of these you meant by "heavily weighted towards the side doing the breakup".) Certainly, I have seen both kinds of behaviour in my two failed relationships.

EDIT: As overcast (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10933670) points out, it's strange to speak of the breaker-upper as not wanting to break up. The distinction I'm trying to draw is still a bit slippery, but I guess I mean to distinguish between wanting to break up (where your partner probably couldn't do anything to convince you to stay) and feeling that you have to break up (where your partner might be able to change to convince you to stay). Jtsummers (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10933737) puts it better.

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