Digital Discoverer Three: Stephen Morrison

• Written by: Stephen Morrison — How Many Miles: A Journey from Morbid Obesity to Try Athlete and Active Traveller
• Published: 16th October 2018

The third in our four-part opinion series exploring what it means to be a Digital Discoverer.

1.    Tell us a bit about yourself

I am Stephen Morrison, aka HowManyMiles (this link will take you away from our website), a plus-sized and middle-aged fitness and travel blogger, physical activity and active travel advocate and, gadget geek. I am also a step-dad to two teenage boys, so keeping ahead of digital technology, attempting to reduce their screen time and trying to keep them active is a daily challenge.

2.    Your first memory of being awed by technology

Two rectangle shapes and a white ball. By today’s standards of console games, Grandstand was limited in its gameplay, but as a child in the 1970’s, I was mesmerized by the sight of a white ball being bounced across the screen by a rectangle that I controlled. As I aged, Atari and Pacman entered my life; I became fixated on Astrowars and then a tape recorder and a ZX Spectrum opened up a whole new world to me.

With such a love of gadgets, it is possibly not a surprise, that as a fitness blogger, I am someone with all the gear and no idea and a love for data.

3.    Three ways in which you use digital tech to look after your health / wellbeing

The simplest tech I have is also the one that changed my life. The pedometer. This BMJ Blog (this link will take you away from our website) details my love affair with counting steps and using numbers to transform my life with the help of the fantastic Paths For All Step Count Challenge (this link will take you away from our website) that starts again on 29th October.  For me, as a user, one key aspect of any developing tech is its ease of use. For adoption, simplicity trumps complexity.

However as a Triathlete and Try Athlete, I have moved on to even more complex and consuming (also expensive) tech and data.

At the centre of everything I do, there is an app called Garmin Connect (this link will take you away from our website). It connects to the gps watch de jour on my wrist (currently sporting the truly awesome Fenix 5S) and the Garmin smart scales in my bathroom. I can track my steps, my speed, my cadence, my heart rate and VO2 max (basically how efficient my lungs are) in addition to my weight, body fat percentage and food intake via MyFitnessPal (this link will take you away from our website) (am I allowed four apps??).

While I can compare against others who share the app including my step-sons via their Garmin Jr trackers, I try to beat only one person. The person I was yesterday.

I do love to gamify what I do and I love to reward myself for maintaining a healthy life, so my Vitality (this link will take you away from our website) app is something I cherish. I “earn” free cinema tickets, discounted running shoes, bikes and gym membership while it encourages me to set goals. 12,500 steps is my daily target for maximum points

Research suggests that extrinsic incentives can be less impactful on sustainable behaviour change than intrinsic rewards such as satisfaction and enjoyment, but I do find that these generally low value rewards are enough to have me spend 5 minutes at the end of the day walking up and down stairs, just to reach the target.

4.    The most ridiculous app currently installed on your phone

One of the many disappointing titles that Glasgow annually fights for is that of the UK’s wettest city, yet on my phone I have the app Sleep Sounds (this link will take you away from our website) with various renditions of rain particularly soothing even when it is invariably raining outside.

5.    Which of the Discover Digital events are you most excited about?

Our children live in a digital age and if they are to see a ripe old age, we need to engage them in their worlds, both virtual and real. So, it’s probably no surprise that Discover Digital: for your health and wellbeing. The Glasgow showcase on the 24th October is my top pick.  Showcasing apps, games and technology that can can improve our health and our healthcare systems appeals not only to the health and fitness blogger, but also the NHS patient and blockchain enthusiast. Imagine using smart contracts to store and swiftly transfer patient data or to chart the movement of blood products from donation to transfusion.

I am a storyteller (and my stories must be told) and I enjoy reading and hearing about the stories of others, so Your health stories and how tech might change them on the 22nd October is pencilled in my diary. Only by listening to others can we truly deliver people focused services.

End of page.