Fitness and calorie tracking devices can induce feelings of “shame” in users who fail to meet their set targets, according to new research from academics.
Experts from University College London (UCL) and Loughborough University employed artificial intelligence (AI) to analyse tens of thousands of social media posts on X.
Their study identified 58,881 posts discussing the five most profitable fitness applications, revealing the potential negative psychological impact of these popular tools.
These were then filtered to see whether users posted a “negative sentiment”, resulting in 13,799 posts.
Researchers found that users felt “shame” when they logged unhealthy foods, “irritation” by notifications sent by the apps and disappointment when people were not able to meet their goals.
The study also highlighted concerns with algorithm-generated targets, based on a person’s weight loss goals.
“These apps rely on algorithms that do not reflect the flexibility and messiness of real life, or account for individual circumstances and differences,” they wrote in the British Journal of Health Psychology.
They highlight how one user wrote: “If I want to reach my goal weight I need to consume −700 (negative 700) calories a day.”
In some cases, these experiences led to “demotivation”, with users seemingly giving up on their goals, they found.
The researchers called for fitness apps to move away from “rigid” calorie counting and exercise regimes to a more holistic approach.
“Few studies have looked at the potential detrimental effects of these apps,” said Dr Paulina Bondaronek, from UCL Institute of Health Informatics and senior author of the paper.
“Social media provides a huge amount of data that could help us understand these effects. By using AI, we were able to analyse this data more quickly.
“In these posts, we found a lot of blame and shame, with people feeling they were not doing as well as they should be. These emotional effects may end up harming people’s motivation and their health.
“Instead of very narrow, rigid measures of success relating to amount of weight lost, health apps should prioritise overall wellbeing and focus on intrinsic motivation – ie, the inherent enjoyment or satisfaction in activities.”
She added: “We need to learn to be kinder to ourselves. We are good at blaming and shaming because we think it will help us to do better but actually it has the opposite effect.
“It is important to note, too, that we only looked at negative posts, so we cannot assess the overall effect of these apps in terms of our wellbeing. The apps may have a negative side, but they likely also provide benefits to many people.”
Co-author Dr Lucy Porter, from the UCL Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, added: “Listening to users’ reports on social media has shown that fitness apps can sometimes leave users feeling demoralised and ready to give up – which is the exact opposite of what these tools are supposed to do.
“We know from previous research that feeling ashamed and miserable about yourself is not going to support healthy, long-term behaviour change – what we need to know now is how pervasive these effects on morale and emotional wellbeing are, and whether there is anything that can be done to adapt fitness apps so that they better meet people’s needs.”
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