#60: Three Things that got me thinking

⏱️ fitness trackers + 🩸The Dropout + 🕸️ networks of care

Bonjour!

Here are three things that made me think about intrinsic motivation in the past week:

1. a writer’s dependency on her fitness tracker

2. the fictionalised motives of a real fraudster

3. what we need for our intrinsic motivation to flourish.

Shall we?

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1. Chasing perfection

Here’s a relatable, cautionary read about the perverse effects of fitness trackers, by health writer Julia Craven for FiveThirtyEight.

I don’t own a pedometer, a smart watch, or any kind of fitness tracker¹. But Craven’s experience reminded me of this recent piece I wrote about getting hooked on a gamified language learning app, another seemingly “healthy” habit that can quickly feel “like crack” (in the words of a fellow Duolingo user):

#56: Why Would Anyone spend so much time on Duolingo?

Craven recalls how she got hooked on her Apple Watch’s metrics and motivational messages:

Missing a fitness benchmark quickly made me think I was lazy or unmotivated, which inevitably associated exercise with shame despite how much I love how it feels to move my body.

She quotes a 2019 study looking at how 210 wearers interact with activity trackers:

Researchers found that motivation dropped whenever a regular wearer didn’t use their tracker. And, after taking into account other factors like the wearer’s personality and affinity for technology, they observed that those dependency levels were higher among participants who were working out only to achieve a goal compared with those who exercised because they enjoyed being active.

She writes about some remedies she found, such as removing notifications or setting aside device-free days, and more importantly, exploring why she valued her fitness data so much:

I was chasing the pride associated with running a bit faster and lifting healthier — milestones I believed would make me perfect.   

“There’s usually something behind the behavior that these devices are purporting to measure. And the more the attention gets switched onto the measurement, the less we lose sight of the really important question of why,” said [Swansea University psychology professor Phil] Reed. “And without addressing that, you’re never going to be happy.” 

Photo by Onur Binay on Unsplash

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2. Fraudster backstory

I binge-watched The Dropout, a series recounting the story of disgraced Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes, who in January was found guilty of fraud and is currently awaiting sentencing (she faces up to 20 years in prison).

The series is based on the ABC news podcast of the same name:

If you’ve heard the podcast, you won’t learn much about the rise and fall of Holmes, and the large-scale fraud of her failed blood testing startup. But you’ll get to marvel at Amanda Seyfried’s portrayal of Holmes, her pretend-deep voice and mannerisms.

The series also touches on some of Holmes’ possible motivations, like her childhood ambition to become a billionaire or her drive to keep up with Silicon Valley bros. Two scenes show Holmes trapped in her own weirdness and grandiose ambitions to get rich and “help” people:

• In episode 3, around 44 minutes. When Holmes needs to get her iPhone fixed, she asks the friendly Genius bar employee:

- What was your dream as a child?
- As a child? No, I don’t think I had any dreams as a child.
- That sounds nice.
- What does?
- Not knowing what you want do with your life.
- It’s not nice... It’s scary.
- Why are you scared? You can do anything, anything that you want...
- Thank you!
- ... because it doesn’t really matter, right? Nothing you do will matter because you don’t really care. I mean, you have no ambition. You don’t wanna do anything important. You’re just a person.

• In episode 5, around 26 minutes. While Holmes’s company scrambles to meet client deadlines and her deception starts to fray, she speaks with her mother at a family funeral:

- Mom, did I ever have any hobbies?
- What do you mean?
- Did I ever... do anything for fun?
- You ran track. You were on the dance team. Er, you climbed a mountain that one summer. Weren't you having fun? 
- ... 
- What's going on? 
- What would happen if I stopped?
- Working at your own company? But then what would happen to the company? What would you do?
- Well, it's just a company. It's not who I am.
- Of course it's who you are! What do you mean? You can't stop. Why would you stop? Elizabeth... I'm so proud of you've become. Wow! You are the CEO of Theranos.
- (nervous chuckle) That's what I am.
- You are gonna help so many people.

I assume that these scenes have more to do with the scriptwriters fleshing out their main character’s motives and backstory than with actual events and dialogues. They are examples of the series’ empathy with Holmes as she gets devoured by her own purpose—although the show does not let her off the hook.

It’s a fine line to walk: as a viewer, part of me enjoys those attempts to make sense of Why and How (and with whose help!) she did it; the other doesn’t want to waste any sympathy on an out-of-touch fraudster who harmed a lot of people. I guess there’s always an icky factor in enjoying a criminal’s biopic in the first place.

The Dropout on Hulu 🩸 @TheDropoutHulu

A million dollars isn't cool. You know what's cool? #TheDropout

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3. Looking out for people

Lastly, this tweet:

🪸🍄👁 @bloomfilters

i feel like the overemphasis on the individualization of discipline in an organizing capacity misses how the most important thing to get intrinsic motivation in people is to establish networks of support and care to look out for them and contingencies for when things go wrong

How spot on is “the overemphasis on the individualization of discipline”? This is one of the ideas that got me excited about starting this newsletter in the first place: exploring motivation not (only) as personal willpower to be summoned and maintained, with gritted teeth, but (also) as a kinder force that can flow when we, plural, have the support we need. We can enjoy intrinsic motivation without having a name for it, without specific strategies or job crafting. But not so much without “networks of support and care”².

1. I did spend (way too many) hours researching a tempting device that looks like a piece of jewellery but tracks sleep, activity and menstrual cycle. Until I saw that the manufacturer also sells $-79 smart bottles linked to an app to remind you to drink water, and it all struck me as absurd. (Consumer me still covets that pretty device, though!)

2. I understand the tweet’s author writes about “organising capacity” to refer to activism and “revolutionary action”. But I believe that comment applies to parenting, education, work, sport, most social contexts really.