At first glance, the kids' Fitbit Ace LTE smartwatch looks like a parent's dream. It comes with GPS tracking, texting and calling with approved contacts, and zero social media or third-party apps.
Since this watch is a Fitbit, it's also a step tracker, albeit one with a novel premise unlike any previous Fitbit model. The Ace LTE, designed specifically with children ages 7 and older in mind, gamifies movement. As a child increases their physical activity, they get more access to Fitbit games and special in-watch rewards.
At a time when kids aren't moving enough — often because they're glued to a device — and their parents are panicking about when to introduce a phone and how to shield them from the worst of the internet, the Ace LTE seems like an ideal solution. But as with many things tech, there may be significant drawbacks for some children, say experts in youth screen time and well-being.
Dr. Jenny Radesky, a developmental pediatrician at the University of Michigan Medical School who authored the screen time guidelines for the American Academy of Pediatrics, says the Ace LTE could benefit some children. But she has a fundamental concern: "You're giving them a gaming console to strap onto their arm."
There are other considerations for Radesky and experts like her. While the smartwatch is walled-off from the internet and its attendant dangers, it still puts tech-driven distractions at a child's fingertips. It will boost activity for some sedentary children, but other youth may unhealthily fixate on reaching their exercise goal, particularly since that's the key to enjoying the watch's entertaining features. In general, it may give children the wrong incentive to exercise. Competitors like the Gabb and Gizmo watches have similar connectivity features, but do not gamify movement.
In a briefing with reporters in May, Google, which owns the Fitbit brand, said it hopes the watch gives parents peace of mind while offering kids an entertaining experience they feel compelled to return to again and again.
In response to questions for this story, Google told Mashable that the watch's gamification is meant to reward kids for consistency and effort while prioritizing goal-setting and fun, instead of tracking stats and metrics.
The Ace LTE perfectly illustrates the tensions of parenting in a digital age, and raises a question with no easy answers: How can parents make the least harmful trade-offs when it comes to tech device use?
Fitbit Ace LTE pros and cons
Ilan Eframian recently gave his 7-year-old daughter an Ace LTE and hasn't regretted it. He likes that the GPS tracking and texting and phone capabilities let him stay connected to her as she attends a day camp an hour away from their home in Jersey City.
Eframian watches the location of the bus intermittently when she's in transit. Occasionally, she messages him to say hello. (Eframian is a former Google Fiber executive. Mashable contacted him through an anonymous message board where he commented on the Ace LTE.)
"Being able to see where she is, I love," Eframian says of the GPS feature.
His daughter's location is visible only to Eframian and his wife; her device doesn't show up in public spaces like devices that rely on Bluetooth do. Google says it deletes GPS data within 24 hours.
Eframian appreciates that the watch isn't assigned a phone number that could receive random spam messages from strangers. The connectivity happens through the Fitbit Ace app, via the LTE network, which requires a monthly or annual subscription that costs $9.99 or $119, respectively. Only parent-approved contacts can message and call a child wearing the watch. Eventually, the watch will have Google Pay enabled on it.
Eframian uses the parent controls to decide when his daughter accesses the games.
One of her favorite games, Pollo 13, stars a space chicken careening through an obstacle course. The watch's sensors let the wearer control the spacecraft "tub" by moving their body from side to side as they try to guide the chicken toward the prizes on the track.
Eframian's daughter is permitted to play on the bus, but a "school time" setting restricts the games while she's at camp. So far, he's not noticed any problematic use of the watch.
It's not obvious or intuitive, but parents can also completely block individual games through Google's Family Link app. (Parents who are interested in deactivating games completely have discussed it on a Fitbit community forum.)
Both the child and parent must have a Google account to use the Ace LTE, which may require bringing young users into the company's sprawling ecosystem before their caregivers had planned to do so.
Parents cannot, however, block Bit Valley, a separate setting in the watch, which is where a Tamagotchi-like character called an eejie resides. Designed intentionally by Google to keep kids engaged with the watch, the eejie is introduced to the wearer during device setup. It can be outfitted with new clothes, belongings, and home decor based on how many rewards the wearer earns by meeting their goal or playing games.
But an eejie can look forlorn when neglected by their owner. Keeping them happy means visiting them, changing their outfit or room, and completing daily activity quests. Users reap the rewards of a content eejie by earning more tickets that can be redeemed for even more eejie-related items. Notifications remind wearers to visit their eejie, if they haven't done so already, though Google said Bit Valley has a built-in daily time limit.
This is one aspect of the watch that gives Radesky pause. She wonders on behalf of parents, "How much does this create a new gaming habit or interest for their child that they didn't necessarily plan for?"
Amanda Lenhart, head of research at Common Sense Media, found the watch's engagement features troubling.
"The fact that you're devising things to keep a child looking at, touching, and playing with your device…it's a great business model, and is also not super great for that child's ability to detach from that device," she says.
Google did assemble a panel of experts to help develop the watch, including Sandra Calvert, director of Georgetown University's Children's Digital Media Center, and Lauren Sherar, dean of the School of Sport, Exercise, and Health Sciences in the United Kingdom. The company was unable to make any of the panel's members available for an interview.
Regardless of differing expert opinions, when it comes to any tech device or platform with captivating features, parents often make the bet that their child won't struggle with boundary-setting like another child might.
Eframian, for example, says his daughter hasn't resisted the limitations he's put on her Ace LTE. He's noticed a "behavior change" as she tries harder to reach her daily movement goal, which to Eframian indicates that the watch is working as intended.
Though Eframian's experience sounds straightforward, another parent with the same expectations may surprisingly find themselves in a daily battle over how their child uses the Ace LTE. And children who have conditions that affect their executive functioning, like attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder and autism, may be particularly prone to the distractions that the watch can present, Radesky says.
Google told Mashable that the company is aware that some kids struggle with regulation, which is why the watch has built-in screen time limits and doesn't reward high-score chasing or overexercise.
"Taken to an extreme"
Still, the variability between how children react to digital devices and features makes it hard to know how one particular kid will fare.
Just as some children may develop focus and attention challenges related to their smartwatch use, the risks can be similarly fraught for children who are vulnerable to negative thinking about their bodies.
Dr. Jason Nagata, an adolescent medicine specialist at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital in San Francisco, says children who use technology to boost their physical activity may likely have a positive or neutral experience doing so. But there are others who are vulnerable in ways their parents might not anticipate.
"I do unfortunately see some teenagers who, they or their parents had very good intentions of trying to be more healthy, or maybe trying to make some lifestyle changes, but then it's taken to an extreme, and they can develop a full-blown eating disorder or muscle dysmorphia," Nagata says, noting some of these cases involved apps or devices that delivered reminders and notifications related to physical activity.
The Ace LTE only counts and displays steps, not calories or other metrics that could become focal points for young users. The watch tracks a range of movement, but the baseline move goal is 45 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous activity. That goal can be increased to 60 or 75 minutes. Some children might breeze through these goals while others, particularly those who only get vigorous exercise during recess, might not.
Google told Mashable that the watch's interval-based programming is designed to encourage three to four sessions of gameplay per day, with each session clocking in at about five minutes or less.
Nagata urges parents to regularly check in with their children about their goals, which they can also monitor in the Fitbit Ace app. A parent might grow concerned if meeting the goal consumes their child's energy or conversation, or displaces other activities they once enjoyed. In that situation, the parent should consider reducing the goal, blocking the games, or having their child cease using the watch.
Clues that a child may be vulnerable to excessive exercise include sensitivity about their appearance, diet, or physical activity. Nagata cautions parents of children who already have an eating disorder or muscle dysmorphia against using the Ace LTE.
Radesky says that some children for whom formal exercise doesn't feel good because of physiological issues like motor-coordination deficits, sensory sensitivity, low muscle tone, and pain may benefit from the Ace LTE's motivating features. But she says that typically pediatricians try to channel kids' drive to move into things that are inherently satisfying.
A child with sensory sensitivities, for example, might enjoy swimming because the water feels good on their skin. Radesky worries that a device that offers external reinforcement — in this case, gameplay — for physical activity that has nothing to do with the inherent joy of movement may deprive kids of the opportunity to choose for themselves what feels good.
Still, she expects that for some kids, the Ace LTE will be a fun and effective way to motivate health behavior. Others, though, might struggle to manage their use or simply get bored of it.
For many parents, knowing how their child will react is a question they're desperate to answer before they spend hundreds of dollars.
In Radesky's opinion, tech companies could simplify the equation for parents by making products that don't hinge on a child's reliably frequent use of the device.
"How can disengagement be a goal?" Radesky asks. "Because if you had technology that let you go when you wanted to go, that would be so respectful of a child's well-being."
