REF-405 · Chen H, Schoefer K, Manika D & Tzemou E, 2024 · Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, · Paper
The "dark side" of general health and fitness-related self-service technologies: A systematic review of the literature and directions for future research
Key Results — Taxonomy of Negative Effects
Systematic, cross-disciplinary review of the literature on harms to consumer well-being from health/fitness apps and wearable activity trackers; proposes a conceptual framework linking use of these technologies to negative outcomes, lists research gaps and implications for marketers and policy makers
The categories below are from the full text (checked 2026-09-28; the abstract names no specific harms):
Compulsive exercise behaviour — mentioned in more than 20 of the 65 reviewed articles; the review does not define it as exercising despite injury or illness (full text, checked 2026-09-28: author version, Brunel repository)
Obsessive data logging — obsession with logging or getting desired data, e.g. tracking calorie intake (full text, checked 2026-09-28: author version, Brunel repository)
Body dissatisfaction from negative wearable feedback — the authors' framework; 7 of the reviewed articles considered body image, and several found no negative effect (full text, checked 2026-09-28: author version, Brunel repository)
Disordered eating/weight-control behaviours — 27 of the 65 articles examined disordered eating (purging, overeating, dieting, binge eating) linked to health/fitness apps and trackers; several Fitbit/MyFitnessPal studies found no increased eating-disorder risk (full text, checked 2026-09-28: author version, Brunel repository)
Extreme exercise to avoid negative emotions from failed social competition (full text, checked 2026-09-28: author version, Brunel repository)
Aggravation of OCD symptoms through the trackers' numerical focus, reported by users in one study (full text, checked 2026-09-28: author version, Brunel repository)
Conceptual framework draws on biopower and healthism: users are pushed toward a socially expected body image (full text, checked 2026-09-28: author version, Brunel repository)
Mechanism
The authors' framework, not tested: negative device feedback keeps users aware of perceived failure, triggering or aggravating adverse cognitive reactions; gamification (streaks, badges, rankings) and social comparison can amplify inadequacy. Technology designed to promote health can undermine it.
Practical Application
A systematic review of health/fitness apps and activity trackers finds a documented "dark side": compulsive exercise, obsessive logging, body dissatisfaction and disordered eating linked to tracking — the review is of general consumers, not athletes, and reports no effect sizes
Not from this paper; the base's own practice: watch for compulsive tracking behaviours — very frequent metric checking, inability to skip recording, distress from missed data
Not from this paper; the base's own practice: calorie tracking is the feature most tied to disordered eating in this literature — consider disabling it for at-risk athletes
Inference, not tested here: segment/leaderboard competition (Strava etc.) can drive overtraining in competitive personalities
Not from this paper; the base's own practice — red flags: training through injury to keep a streak, anxiety when the device is uncharged, refusing to count untracked sessions
Limitations
General population focus, not sport-specific
Systematic review of heterogeneous literature; narrative synthesis only
No effect sizes reported
How this entry was checked and changed
Why this level
regraded 2026-09-27 from A-: systematic review of heterogeneous, largely observational and qualitative consumer literature; no effect sizes
Content correction 2026-09-27
Level A- -> B+ (regraded: systematic review of heterogeneous consumer literature without meta-analysis or effect sizes).
"20+ articles" on compulsive exercise and "dozens of times daily" -> not in the abstract, removed.
Taxonomy of harms -> labelled "(full text; not checked against the abstract)"; the abstract names no specific harm.
Screening thresholds (">5x/day"), disabling calorie tracking, red flags -> labelled as the base's own practice.
2026-09-28: lines labelled "full text; not checked" read against the open-access full text (author version, bura.brunel.ac.uk 2438/27981): 3 confirmed, 4 corrected (compulsive exercise "despite injury/illness" not in the paper -> >20 of 65 articles; OCD "and goal-chasing" -> numerical focus, one study; disordered eating "linked to calorie tracking" -> 27 of 65 articles, with null Fitbit/MyFitnessPal studies; body dissatisfaction qualified with the null studies), 0 removed.
2026-09-28: category-intro line aligned with the full-text check (author version, Brunel repository).