last year the broadcaster famous for wildlife and environmental documentary said he joined the social media platform to highlight urgent environmental issues. you're watching news up next our digital program shift don't forget you can get all the latest news and information on our website that state of the dot com i'm rebecca riches in berlin thanks very much for watching. people make fun about it on social economic and political problems. in mozambique we say that you have to laugh so you don't write it's how people call me dated april. as a journalist i often call cultist dogs in the back by a lesser local to. pay extra staff a day by checking all those jobs finding out what people are talking about what is moving them. my father taught me how to ask uncomfortable questions about my

country and about what that is what i keep doing to this day my name's maggie suv and i work at g.w. . according to my fitness i've already taken 2628 steps today and i got 7 hours of deep sleep that's about average this devise can even determine my mood seriously but is that really a good thing how healthy is self optimization or topic today on shift. get enough exercise eat the right food have i had enough water today am i really.

enough according to a recent survey about 33 percent of the global population has already tried out digital health trackers the market for fitness wearables has tripled since 2017 and it looks set to grow much more say experts why are we so obsessed with self improvement and is there something wrong with us not according to a psychologist you wouldn't mind a stall. principle. is a part of our developing further which is one of the human fundamental needs it's a part of all of us but there is a difference when we talk about self optimization this entails reaching optimum capacity. and this is often linked to self value and status. we try to get fitter and it's better to improve our bodies but what about our minds well also apps and gadgets that contract our mental well being and in these times

of crisis many are starting to use such trackers but how do they work i took a closer look. at how question the world is asked more often it's also what i've been asking myself for days now i've been using delio to track my mood in the morning at midday and in the evening i can choose from 5 emotions this morning i would say that i'm good. i tell delio what i'm doing how i'm feeling and the app translates the data into statistics. they're holding the riot triggers available online they are almost like digital via reefs a place to record on and a kitty. evaluate this information and draw conclusions about psychological health . can't really analyze he uses. a person can have so many different emotions feelings. very complex and lease apps

can simplify complex matters in such a way that they might end up being not useful. delio can only track my mood when i'm using it actively it doesn't know what happens in between and that information doesn't turn up in the statistics. i don't think the app was that useful for me personally but it could be helpful to record one's daily activity in order to recognize certain patterns but to do so you already have to know yourself quite well. because the take other factors into account that quite a bit. know that i'm in the office it's time for the next test feel wristbands can measure the sweat on the user skin this information will be linked to mood related data. i will input my mood into the app now that's a joyous because i get to see my colleagues the respond money to some biometric

data on my blood pressure for example and translates them into emotional patterns and recognize them when i'm joyous in the future. i don't know how precise these measurements are on the basis of my responses to questions about concrete situations be able to propose certain mindfulness exercises there are all kinds of variables such as these on the market now some claim that they can recognize or use emotions through their voice others detect and measure brain activity all these headbands wristbands rings measure physical data and give advice on how to improve mental health some even say that they can help people to overcome depression but you did my list of has some warning worse in this regard. we should remember that we should never transfer responsibility for our own life and the psychological well being of our health to a digital app it can be helpful to use them but it's very important not to use them responsibly and to be on. where of the risks. after work i

like to switch off and this muse had been says it can help according to the makers it uses 7 sensors to detect the brain's electrical activity which it then transforms into understandable experiences so the user can wind down and meditate if i'm not calm i will hear sounds of a storm which will remind me to concentrate on my breathing if i'm feeling calm i will hear light summer rain. i can hear some very light rain some wind. and from time to time the earth chirping that indicates that i'm really relaxed over. what i'm talking the wind is giving everyone the wind favorite truth so i think a bit of concentrating now. i would say that a new trick is going to help people to go about their everyday life in a more mindful way but it is important to not relinquish full control and to not

take the exercises they prescribe too seriously i doubt that such gadgets can really have users with serious mental health issues for now people can still decide themselves whether they want to use these quantified self apps and devices but what if they didn't have a choice what if their employers ordered them to use a mood tracker. lots of work multitasking and difficult exercises this is daily life at tiny a start up based in munich the founders vision of the future is one where employees only receive as much work as they can actually carry out the idea is that software should a lot their workload automatically so that the software can do this well you have to wear a device that measures the polls all the time and there's a camera that films their faces the idea is to measure the stress levels and emotional states and their workload can be calculated. is one of the developers he says he's not interested. surveillance or storing data but in flow.

is a tutor this can be described as the perfect state between the feeling of being under challenge billboard and the opposite which is being stressed and swamped that place in between when someone is challenge who can cope with the task in hand is flying flow. but do we really want a world in which software can get such a deep insight into an employee's emotional state serves no select from the german research center for artificial intelligence things not. we don't want a situation in which such software leads to the surveillance of employees with the result that someone might be fired if they don't perform adequately or if they're going through a rough patch personally and the system detects that with subsequent negative consequences this has to be prevented. at this munich startup employees have to actively agree to be tracked but will this always be the case

these systems force people to share intimate information how is the data used and by whom. of course apps must collect data to quantify progress for example in health related research apple has collaborated with academics and published a variety of studies based on data collected by volunteers and their smart watches it might sound like a win win situation but i'm not so sure about giving that bunch of personal information to a private company. health babson vidis trackers can't dado when users are sleeping eating and exercising but they also gather other information for example regarding location users often have no idea what is done with their data benedict book now is a lawyer who says the terms appeals are frequently formulated in a very vague way. and many companies are just connecting information and don't even know what they want to do with it but sooner or later there will be some kind of

commercial use for the data right now data is already being sold for targeted advertising to directed at certain groups and individuals health insurance companies are also very interested in such data some of them are already offering cheaper rates to policyholders who agree to track their own health related data the system for this is great for those who are healthy but not so great for those who are not in the end it leads to people being selected according to their risk to the . user should think very carefully about the amount of personal information they're willing to divulge to some sops. data protection is obviously a big issue but. even do what they say they will now all kinds of new fitness apps and gadgets flooding the market they're supposed to encourage users to exercise more without a trainer but do they really work. there's a wealth of research into the question of whether it makes a difference if

a person uses an app and tracks their activity or not and so far what it's shown is that it makes a huge difference to people's motivation many are more likely to commit themselves to their health and stick to it if they track their activity and see visible progress but it is not yet been proven that this actually makes an impact on health and whether users really do more exercise we just don't know that yet. in addition some fitness apps can actually increase the risk of physical damage artificial intelligence and instruction videos can help people tailor physical activity to their own needs so that people are more likely to hurt themselves if they do the exercises wrongly and can't ask a real life instructor for advice. if the user wants to do something right there is a lot of work involved good trainer will happen so it's an experience that i'm. so

trainers made of flesh and blood still have an important role to play. and that doesn't just go for fitness apps even small devices can have huge drawbacks a friend of mine wanted to track all the stages obviously to optimize his sleeping pattern but he got so stressed out by the whole process that in the end he couldn't sleep at all and that might be helpful for some but not for others it's very important to find the one that's right for you this is what the expert says. or worse and is unique and not even the best dabs can map all the highly individualized elements that make a person and help them to develop an app make suggestions based on the aggregated data so it can never be tailored precisely to just one individual basically no user should ever follow is just blindly but always ask whether it really makes sense for

them personally. however for a person in crisis any kind of support is better than none at all so even if it would make more sense to talk to a professional and out with at least give an indication of the direction somebody wants to move in and how they might want to develop so i would say use the apps but make sure you always question their advice. what about you have you used fitness apps and have they helped you reach your goals. on social media on d w dot com if you want to find out more about these gadgets check out our you tube channel for now and.

he doesn't move in circles. leads the way. the family like the world champion is a u.n. climate embassador in new delhi he fights against air pollution to inform people. on the starting grid for a clean environment to read to the end of next on d.w.p. . slick. carefully. simply needs to declare.

discovery. subscribe to the documentary on to. her. son to school. if. live. is the most polluted capital city in libya and quantities.