Fitness trackers are damaging youngsters’ mental health, leading headmaster warns

Fitness trackers are damaging youngsters’ mental health and parents should stop encouraging their children to wear them, a leading preparatory school headmaster has warned.

William Dunlop, head of Clayesmore Preparatory School in Dorset, said that “well-meaning” mothers and fathers are increasingly buying their children activity trackers as gifts.

The trackers - which can measure anything from the number of steps you have taken that day to your heart rate - are viewed by many parents as a good way to encourage their children to exercise.

But parents are buying the gadgets without necessarily considering the negative side-effects, Mr Dunlop said, such as contributing towards anxiety or other mental health issues.

Mr Dunlop said that impressionable children are “particularly susceptible to obsessive behaviour in pursuit of arbitrary goals”. He said “responsible, well-meaning parents” may think they are helping their children, by responding to the “perceived problem” of childhood inactivity.

In fact, Mr Dunlop says that such items are “entirely superfluous” as in most cases, their children are already very active. He said that the fitness trackers can lead to “unforeseen risks of obsessive behaviour and overwork” as well as the issue of online safety, since so much data is generated about a child's health.

If parents really want their children to develop active lifestyle, they should encourage them to take part in sociable sporting activities, Mr Dunlop advised.

“If you are really going to establish healthy habits, trying to compete with yourself is not the best way,” he said.

eddie wrote:But! They always give such mixed messages. They tell teens to get active then tell them they’re not doing it right.

It’s not making sense to me.

eddie wrote:But! They always give such mixed messages. They tell teens to get active then tell them they’re not doing it right.

It’s not making sense to me.

HoratioTarr wrote:Christ in a sidecar!   Switch off the playstation/computer/XBox/TV/DVD Player and boot them outside to fucking socialise like in Olden Times!