A high tech runner? Oh no. Now I’m one of those people. I’m not even sure who those people are. But I’ve always thought I wasn’t one of them.
You know, the type who is totally plugged in while exercising. Music playing. Incoming texts beeping. Their GPS always mapping. The latte machine strapped to their back foaming. The ones who couldn’t free themselves from technology for five minutes. Had to take it with them wherever they went. Even to exercise.
But running for me was always the escape. The chance to put all of my wretched gadgets — the ones that follow me, and bug me, and tell me where I am and what I’m supposed to be doing and who I need to be talking to — away. It was liberating. A chance to just strap on my shoes, look at some squirrels and run.
Then I went and did it. I got a running watch that talks to some satellite in the sky and tells me where I am. (Because I couldn’t figure that out myself.)
Now I’m one of those people. And I loved it!
“Check this out,” I told my wife, plugging the watch into my computer after finishing a run. Up popped all kinds of data on me. Miles covered, my pace, calories burned, my favorite color, how to crack my online security codes. “Look! It even has a map of my run. You can see exactly where I went!”
My wife stared at it. “That’s kind of scary,” she said.
Scary!?! I thought, dumbfounded. What’s scary about a watch knowing everything about me… and tracking… uhh… every single step I take… hmmm.
“It’s not scary,” I said, not so convinced anymore. “I mean, I’m running in downtown St. Augustine. Everyone can already see me. It’s not Pyongyang, North Korea.”
(I took the watch aside and whispered, “You know I’m not in North Korea, right?”)
But all of a sudden, my new toy — my tech-laden beacon of fitness — looked a little nefarious. I eyed the running watch carefully. “You don’t take pictures of me in the shower, do you?”
All I had wanted was to know how many miles I was running. What my pace was. I don’t care about burning calories, but it’s nice to know they’re cooked.
But has technology gone too far? Are we too connected? Too dependent upon it? Unable, or unwilling, to detach anymore and just go for a run? Can we even get off the grid? Can we trust our little gadgets, or all the data they hold? I read recently how Steven Hawking said artificial intelligence might one day be our downfall. Was my little watch plotting the takeover of the world? All while I thought, “Hey, I just burned another 10 calories. I’m getting a Snickers!”
I’m trying to put it all out my head. But every once in a while I get nervous, duck behind a tree and see if anyone is following me. Then I turn off the watch, check out what the squirrels are doing and feel liberated all over again.