05/23 Reflection

The research paper from 2016 is about fitness tracking within youth. The background explains that society is looking for healthy changes and often looked to devices to help them track that, so the point of the paper is to understand how youth use physical tracking devices to “engage with personal health data.” The paper explains the methods and the participants: 11-12 years old children of different ethnicities and BMIs. They used a fitbit to track this study during a 6 month period, and familiarized students through a protocol so they knew how to use the device. The quantitative data was more based on how often the student synced or engaged with their device, and more on how aware they were of the steps they were taking (how often they had the device on when walking). There was also a qualitative side of the research where the children were asked about their experience. The results showed that engagements decreased throughout the period and only increased when motivators or researchers were present. There were many codes created to describe the experience, and many kids found size or comfort was the problem. Males also used it more since they were trying to compete with each other, and females felt tense or nervous like they were scared of being researched and self conscious about it. These results weren’t surprising to the authors and many reasons why so are explained in the discussion such as low technology access and low motivation within this age of students. Incentives are necessary for viable data, and in the future these health technologies are more likely to reach older age groups.

Jane McGonigal begins by telling the audience that she can increase their lifespan by 7.5 minutes, and continues to explains how important games are and how they get a bad rap all the time. She goes into a study on what people regret most on their death beds, the top few being working not as hard, staying in touch with people, letting themselves be happier, having the courage to express themselves, and living a life true to their dreams. When Jane reads these, she explains that games can fulfill each one whether they be video games or any games at all. They help with connections and decreasing anxiety and depression. She tells her story about being essentially on her deathbed for 2 years from a brain injury, but she decided to make it a game to tackle her real life challenge. Her sister and husband became “allies” and they identified the “enemies” which were triggers, and “power-ups” which were positive situations for her. She spread this game out to the community and got a lot of positive responses back. The top traits of post traumatic growth are exactly the same and opposite of the top five regrets. She has the audience play her game with her and explains each step and set of points to earn the 7.5 extra minutes of life. The types of resilience she has the audience work on leads to 10 extra years of life.

I absolutely loved the video by Jane, her story makes it extremely personal and so intriguing and I think it’s so cool that she created a game all based off of her struggles. I admire the work she’s put in and the amount of people she’s helped get out of hard situations. I would love to be able to make as big of an impact as she has on the nation, and I think it’s really cool that she used her problems for good. I downloaded her app and plan on using it often because where it came from is so cool. It’s extremely easy to follow and makes me feel good when I complete challenges and think of the time I’m adding onto my life. The colors and types of activities are simple and keep you interested while also keeping things enjoyable. I hope to continue playing to see what happens!

If you went through a traumatic event would you ever think to make a game of it? If you have personally gone through a traumatic event and are reflecting back, how exactly could you make it into a game to get better or help others in the same situation get better?