research-article

No longer wearing: investigating the abandonment of personal health-tracking technologies on craigslist

Authors:

Jessica A. Pater,

Andrew D. Miller,

Elizabeth D. Mynatt,

Lena MamykinaAuthors Info & Claims

UbiComp '15: Proceedings of the 2015 ACM International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing

Pages 647 - 658

https://doi.org/10.1145/2750858.2807554

Published: 07 September 2015 Publication History

Abstract

Personal health-tracking technologies have become a part of mainstream culture. Their growing popularity and widespread adoption present an opportunity for the design of new interventions to improve wellness and health. However, there is an increasing concern that these technologies are failing to inspire long-term adoption. In order to understand why users abandon personal health-tracking technologies, we analyzed advertisements of secondary sales of such technologies on Craigslist. We conducted iterative inductive and deductive analyses of approximately 1600 advertisements of personal health-tracking technologies posted over the course of one month across the US. We identify health motivations and rationales for abandonment and present a set of design implications. We call for improved theories that help translate between existing theories designed to explain psychological effects of health behavior change and the technologies that help people make those changes.

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Cited By

Dino MDion KAbadir PBudhathoki CHuang CPadula WHimmelfarb CDavidson P(2024)The impact of a mixed reality technology-driven health enhancing physical activity program among community-dwelling older adults: a study protocolFrontiers in Public Health10.3389/fpubh.2024.138340712Online publication date: 14-May-2024
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2024.1383407
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Index Terms

No longer wearing: investigating the abandonment of personal health-tracking technologies on craigslist
1. Human-centered computing

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cover image ACM Conferences

UbiComp '15: Proceedings of the 2015 ACM International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing

September 2015

1302 pages

ISBN:9781450335744

DOI:10.1145/2750858

General Chairs:
Kenji Mase
Nagoya University, JP
,
Marc Langheinrich
Università della Svizzera italiana (USI), CH
,
Daniel Gatica-Perez
IDIAP-EPFL, CH
,
Program Chairs:
Hans Gellersen
Lancaster University, UK
,
Tanzeem Choudhury
Cornell University
,
Koji Yatani
Univerisity of Tokyo, JP

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Published: 07 September 2015

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UbiComp '15: The 2015 ACM International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing

September 7 - 11, 2015

Osaka, Japan

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UbiComp '15 Paper Acceptance Rate 101 of 394 submissions, 26%;

Overall Acceptance Rate 764 of 2,912 submissions, 26%

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Cited By

Dino MDion KAbadir PBudhathoki CHuang CPadula WHimmelfarb CDavidson P(2024)The impact of a mixed reality technology-driven health enhancing physical activity program among community-dwelling older adults: a study protocolFrontiers in Public Health10.3389/fpubh.2024.138340712Online publication date: 14-May-2024
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2024.1383407
Zhu YLong YWang HLee KZhang LWang S(2024)Digital Behavior Change Intervention Designs for Habit Formation: Systematic ReviewJournal of Medical Internet Research10.2196/5437526(e54375)Online publication date: 24-May-2024
https://doi.org/10.2196/54375
Kouaho WEpstein D(2024)Investigating Perspectives of and Experiences with Low Cost Commercial Fitness WearablesProceedings of the ACM on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies10.1145/36997408:4(1-22)Online publication date: 21-Nov-2024
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