Have you ever worked in an office where they hand those things out? And then they try to have a "fun competition" to see who walks the most steps in a given day? To encourage physical activity and health? Yeah. You're not fooling anyone, employers. If you wanted your employees healthy and physically active, you would a) provide better health plans and b) not tether your employees to desks all day long. Human beings are built to be active all day long. Forcing people to try to partition off a small portion of their limited free time as "the time I move" is fundamentally unhealthy, and then using a wide array of tactics, from these pedometer things to pop cultural messages all over the frickin' place, to make them feel bad about not doing it, is just cruel.
Speaking of which, I think I'm gonna get back to running every day after work. It really does make you feel more human. And hell, it's warm enough.
3 comments:
I also spend my days tethered to a cubicle desk, and know exactly how you feel. I remember when I first took my office job, I took a trip to the bathroom to relieve myself. I remember thinking it would be so much more efficient if they allowed us to piss on the floor rather than going to the bathroom, since all I did all day was sit in the cubicle like livestock in a pen. I have since referred to my cubicle as my Veal Crate. Later I took up cycling to work, which is a good way to arrive at work alert and ready for the day, and it's a great stress reliever when I'm able to leave work at the end of the day. It makes me feel like I've *done* something, rather than that peculiar feeling of restless lethargy that comes from a day of physical inactivity.
For a while I was running to work, when work was close enough to do so, but I arrived all sweaty and "unprofessional," so that went right out. The nice thing for me is that I take the bus to work, so I spend that hour in the morning and again in the evening reading, and then go running after, which gives me energy to use in my real--non-work--life.
Oh, and I meant to congratulate you on the phrase "peculiar feeling of restless lethargy," which captures that frustrating feeling perfectly.
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