What about all of the proposed government regulations/increased taxation on sugary and salty foods? That’s not over controlling??
Sleepwalking?
Do you believe in ghosts?
Cat got your fitbit?
A friend was here this past week and her fitbit is completely off kilter. She and her husband, who also has one, did the same activity. His said he climbed 8 flights of stairs. Hers said 65!! Maybe she can sell hers to an Oral Roberts student!
People, this is school which doesn’t allow students to wear shorts. Why is anyone surprised?
To each his own. I think I would worry more about some of the other things that I feel are repressive about these schools and how intrusive they are into student’s lives. But, they are private schools so they have the right, within reason, to do pretty much what they want. Wonder if the number of kids applying will go down? Maybe an overweight applicant will sue them because they feel it is discrimination. I wonder what the penalty is for not doing the required amount of steps? Is it the same as sneaking a person of the opposite sex into your room?
I can picture a member of the cross country team wearing a dozen or two trackers during daily practice (for a small fee).
I wondered about this as well. If the school accepts federal money, e.g. subsidized loans, are they allowed to discriminate against disabled (wondering if that is the wrong word to use) applicants?
" I wonder what the penalty is for not doing the required amount of steps? Is it the same as sneaking a person of the opposite sex into your room?"
The fitbit requirement is 20% of the grade of the required freshman health course. After that course, wearing the fitbit is optional.
Overweight people can walk 10k steps. They are not being discriminated against, but rather being treated just like everyone else.
Obviously there is going to be some “out” for someone who is disabled and could not walk. I mean, really, duh.
I think it’s a cool idea personally. Perhaps it will motivate some kids to pick up a healthy hobby.
That was my thought. With the discontinuation of phys ed at the elementary and even the high school level…or classroom classes taking the place of phys ed or an ability to “opt out” all together we do have a tremendously “at risk” generation.There is a level of discontent that in this country athletics takes place in colleges, but there is a long history of the concept of healthy minds and healthy bodies. I really don’t see much wrong in that theory. We have a saying in my family going back a couple generations among the olders… “move it or lose it”…used to make me giggle when I was a little girl but as i age I have come to understand it in a very real way.
And the fitbit just makes it a little more fun. You can set up challenge groups to power walk, you can try to beat your steps from the week before. If it’s 8 pm and you are 200 steps short, you can walk around the block.
I think this is a great way of making sure the school be fit.
with 40% obesity in the country the best thing might be colleges instilling a healthy lifestyle over the course of 4 years.
I suggested this to a college coach in football to see which players were slackers;)
He is trying to get the school to buy them to ensure the team is pulling all of it’s weight, plus… It will make them work harder to win the competitions and by doing so make the team better and reach a higher level.
I remember when the workplace fitness craze was all about the pedometer. Some employers were lavishly rewarding employees for the number of steps on their pedometer…until those stories of Pedometer Abuse started trickling in.
I know people who attached their pedometer to their pet and let Fido/Fluffy run free. (Hmm - Fluffy probably isn’t a great example, since my Fluffy just sleeps all day, but you get the idea.)
And I used to work for a company that analyzed corporate wellness programs for cost effectiveness - you know, does Weight Watchers at work really save the employer any money in medical/pharmacy costs? As a rule, those pedometer programs never really had an impact on healthcare costs, but at least they were cheap…
^ Of course there will be cheaters, but those who run these programs expect that. The bigger goal in all of this is to motivate kids to get out and do something healthy. They’re not expecting 100% success. Even if only 20% of the kids took the program seriously and changed their lifestyles – started hiking, or riding a bike several times a week – that’s significant. Once you develop a routine of becoming active, it starts to become a habit, and that’s what these programs hope to accomplish.
With a 40% graduation rate, ORU might do better forcing its students to wear tracking devices to make sure the students go to the library and do their homework.
Every student at ORU ought to protest this absurd initiative, especially since the students are required to buy the devices themselves. I have to wonder how ORU is benefitting financially from this cozy agreement with Fitbit.
There’s an old science fiction book in which everyone wears a tracking bracelet–THIS PERFECT DAY by Ira Levin.
Funny that I saw this article just after reading this thread. Now that would be a scandal if an ORU student discovered she was pregnant through use of the fitbit. And would whoever is monitoring the fitbit pick up on that?
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/02/09/oh-baby-womans-fitbit-reveals-she-pregnant/80047902/
“There’s an old science fiction book in which everyone wears a tracking bracelet”
That’s already happening in a way with parents (some here on CC) who think it’s ok, and even require their kids to have tracking turned on for their phones, so that they can make sure they’re “safe” and going to class on time. If we get enough people like that making the rules, it’s only a matter of time before fitness tracking is required for all employees, then students, then everyone. It scares me that so many people are ok with having their employers force them to allow tracking of personal time through their fitness activities.
How would a fitbit indicate you are pregnant? It measures steps and heartbeat. You can enter that you are pregnant I the information, just like you can enter that you ate a carrot, but if you are hiding your pregnancy why would you enter it?
Ffitbits aren’t some magic tracking device. It’s a pedometer.