We recently talked to you about how our obsessive wearables culture is getting a tad out of hand, offering 8 signs that you and your wrist-romance should take a break. At the individual level, those eight signs offer pretty good coverage. At the global level, however, there is one more we should add: when universities start acting like Fitbits are just as important as going to class.
Oral Roberts University is a Christian Liberal Arts school in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and now, in addition to good high school grades and an unflinching devotion to the Big Guy upstairs, freshmen are required to have a similar dedication to a little thing on their arm; they have made it mandatory for all inbound students to wear a Fitbit.
According to the school’s press release, since their opening in 1965, they have held fitness as a key component of their unique system called “Whole Person Education.” Before, freshmen were required to log aerobics points in a fitness journal. Now, they just have to scooch over their Tiffany’s bracelet and pretend they’re on house arrest.
“The marriage of new technology with our physical fitness requirements is something that sets ORU apart,” says University President William Wilson. “In fact, when we began this innovative program in the fall of 2015, we were the first university in the world to offer this unique approach to a fitness program.”
I’m sure they were.
According to the school’s Chief Information Officer, the program will only track student heart rate and number of “steps” taken – the Fitbit model required on campus does not track GPS location and apparently cannot distinguish itemized activities.
Which is good, because, again, ORU is a Christian University and you know how Christian universities feel about optimizing your heartrate through pre-marital hanky-panky…
While no spokesperson at the university made mention of this, I suspect that if all goes well with the Fitbit program, ORU will roll out The Elf on the Shelf in all their dormitories come fall. Or would it be The J.C. in the AC?
Oh, who knows – just don’t go there.
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