Adoption of the device

casual” (JB24, M23, student). Another user said that “design wise, I think it is at the moment by far the best kind of casual designed bracelet out there. All the others, Fuelband, Fitbit, they’re just plastic chunks on your wrist that stand out, being too sporty, whereas the Jawbone UP is really neutral. I can wear it with a suit, with a t-shirt or anytime” (JB2, M29, account manager). Users also thought it was a positive outcome that “it’s a bit difficult to recognize that Jawbone is a technology on your arm” (JB24, M23, student).

The design was less appealing to some users, but mainly for practical reasons.

Primarily, the design of the bracelet restrained the user from daily patterns, as one user describes: “I always had to take it off whenever working at the computer - it was in the way. It was also in the way when putting on a jacket” (JB28 F30, pharmacist). Another user concurred that “it’s a bit too much in the way” (JB26, M28, lawyer). This also applied to a sleeping setting because “It’s a bit irritating to sleep with. When you sleep, you just want to be ‘free’” (JB31, M29, researcher).

However, the majority of criticism of the device was regarding the hardware, such as malfunctioning or missing functionalities. Primarily, the devices were criticized for breaking: “it stopped working after a while” (JB7, M29, account manager) and that “They break all the time! I hate it” (JB1, F30, business analyst). The technology was not sufficiently developed to give the user the seamlessness that they wanted, i.e., wireless syncing. Users said that the “pain with the jawbone is that you actually have to use the headphone jack to sync everything” (JB7, M29 account manager) and that “It is a bit annoying that it doesn’t have a bluetooth function” (JB29, F28, pharmacist).

The activity and step function are also criticized for its lack of tracking beyond a specific set of activities. Many users highlighted the problem of being unable to identify activities beyond walking, such as biking, skiing and weight lifting: “it’s kind of annoying that you have a goal and you can’t reach it through high intensity workouts, just because you aren’t GPS-moving” (FB7, M28, lawyer). In this case, this user was weightlifting on a regular basis but the self-tracking device was unable to automatically track the intensity of this activity. This caused a discrepancy in the data as well as individual distress because “I tend to miss my activity goal daily because of it” (JB15, M32, account manager).

Another issue was that the device “application is not working and syncing”(JB14, F30, marketing manager) but this was primarily related to the Jawbone UP device.

The malfunction was due to the device inadequately registering the activity, whether it was sleep or steps. A user shared that “the device stalled and kind of become unusable so I had to reset it and lost all my data. That was annoying.

Also, I’ve had issues with activating the sleep function... it takes a while before it enters sleep mode” (FB1, F26, nutritionist). In particular, the activation of the sleep mode did not always work or reverted to day-mode in the middle of the night

“which was freaking annoying so I couldn’t see how much I had slept” (JB21, F36, graphic designer). Not only did the sleep function not always activate, but it missed registering hours during the night when the user awakened: “I don’t think it recognizes the moments that I am awake even for 5-10min to nurse my baby and put her back down” which meant that “I think that I’ve been a little turned off by the sleep bar because I know that it’s really not that accurate”(JB17, F35, housewife).

Faulty functionalities led to frustration because it mean that the data was lost and it “will just destroy your stats completely” (JB25, M23, student). When the device did not manage to continuously update the user’s data archive, due to malfunctions and hardware issues, the user became de-motivated. As a response, the user came to consider the device to be unreliable and inconsistent, which was subsequently reflected in the user’s behavior towards the device. In other words, if the device misbehaved, so did the user. Eventually, it could lead to termination: “I’ve stopped now because it’s not working” (JB3, M29, account manager). However, this was not always the case.

The individuality of the app was considered a constraint by some users who wanted to pair it with more apps in order to aggregate various data streams. One user concerned with her nutrition and running said that “it would be nice that I wouldn’t have to use Endomondo and Myfitnesspal” and that the perfect self-tracking device would have the ”same functions as these other apps” (FB2, F40, housewife). Another user said that “I wanted something that was a bit more complete and tracked everything” while referencing the need to be able to integrate more apps to her primary self-tracking app (JB19, F29, account manager). The self-tracking device did not have the wide array of functionalities that the user requested.

6.7.2 Data dashboard

The self-tracking device comes with a mobile and desktop dashboard where the user can check his or her data. The user developed a pattern around checking the data. In the beginning it was frequent, but once the initial period had passed, the checking pattern stabilized, regardless of the device the user had adopted. Whether the user was a new or senior user, the interaction pattern did not differ much once the dashboard had been opened. In general, the user would skim through the personal data and perhaps focus on one category over the others, but mostly with the aim of getting an overview of the short-term goal (daily) versus a long-term goal (weekly, bi-weekly or monthly).

When interacting with the dashboard, next to none of the interviewed users perform a deeper analysis of the self-tracking data, such as downloading spreadsheets for further examination. Instead, the user relies on the dashboard to deliver both data handling and insights. A user explained: “I want the data to be customized and give me advice without me having to analyze the data. Sure, there is a lot of data but I, and other people, are not good at using it. I want feedback and advice, not just data. There is lots of data but we are not good at using it”

(JB9, M27, designer). However, the lack of effort to pursue a self-instigated analysis translated into that the data came across as unintuitive and uninsightful.

This failed expectation of gaining self-insight may cause a decreased interest in the data and the device, which ultimately leads to abandonment.

6.7.3 Notifications

The self-tracking device offers several functionalities such as a sleep alarm and an idle alert, as well as various customized mobile push notifications and in-app notifications. These functions are collectively referred to as notifications, since they remind the users of the goals installed by adopting the device.

The sleep alarm is the most popular functionality, which means that the user can set a preferred time interval for when he or she would like to be woken up. For example, the user would indicate that he or she would like to wake up between 07.00-07.30 and the wristband would then vibrate when the user was in light sleep

mode. A user said: “I wake up from the alarm and I really like it! An excellent way of waking up! That is the feature I think I would miss most.” (JB29, F28, pharmacist). It was a positive feature for couples “The alarm clock was awesome, I could wake up without [my girlfriend] having to wake up. That was awesome”

(JB7, M29, account manager).

However, the sleep alarm does not always manage to wake up the users: “I have difficulty to wake up [...] but most of the time I kept on sleeping and turned it off.

So I did set the alarm but it wasn’t that often that it woke me up” (JB10, M29, account manager). In this case, the user would abandon the function for other options such as a mobile wake up alarm or a standard clock.

The Jawbone UP’s idle alert is also a well-liked and well-used feature. The idle alert functionality allows the device to notify the user when he or she has not moved for a certain programmed period of time, such as 30 minutes or one hour.

The period of time is set by the user. Many agreed that besides the sleep alarm,

“the best thing was probably the vibration [alarm] that would buzz if I had been sitting down for an hour at the office, then I would get up and take a few steps, just to get up” (JB30, M27, lawyer).

However, at times the notifications are considered a disturbance “I used the idle alert a couple of times in the beginning, but I didn’t like the buzzing, as I’m not a big fan of notifications in general, so I stopped. I get so many emails as it is so I don’t want any other disturbances” (JB26, M28, lawyer).

In summary, the device has several shortcomings such as clunky design, crashing functionalities and data uploading issues. In the event of losing data, the user was frustrated because it interfered with creating a holistic archive. Although, there were several benefits as well. For example, the adoption of the self-tracking device meant that the user incorporates new patterns of practice, or routines, in the daily life, which are presented further below. The device is worn around the clock and after a while, it is no longer noticed and becomes an integral part of the user.

In the morning, the sleep function is turned off followed by a check up on the data to give an overview of the night. The next time the data is checked is usually later in the afternoon or evening to evaluate the day’s progression. However, in the first phase of adoption, the user would continuously monitor the goals, but after a few

weeks, the user checked the data less. The more routinized user would perhaps check in the late afternoon, but more likely would do so in the evening to evaluate the activity of the day.