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Digitizing a sustainable future

PLEASE CITE THE PUBLISHED VERSION

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2021.05.012

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Cell Press

VERSION

AM (Accepted Manuscript)

PUBLISHER STATEMENT

This paper was accepted for publication in the journal One Earth and the definitive published version is
available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2021.05.012.

LICENCE

CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

REPOSITORY RECORD

Reisch, Lucia A, Lucas Joppa, Peter Howson, Artur Gil, Panayiota Alevizou, Nina Michaelidou, Ruby Appiah-
Campbell, et al.. 2021. “Digitizing a Sustainable Future”. Loughborough University.
https://hdl.handle.net/2134/16602185.v1.
Digitizing healthy lifestyles

Panayiota Alevizou1, Nina Michaelidou2, Ruby Appiah- Campbell2

University of Sheffield, 2Loughborough University

1

The promotion of health security and advancement is regarded as the nucleus of the
Agenda for Sustainable Development emphasising the importance of resilient public health
systems and governance. The recent pandemic has reinforced the necessity for healthy
lifestyles and health literacy leading an increasing number of citizens to healthy eating
mobile apps and wearable devices. The benefits reported are numerous, ranging from self-
tracking behaviour to social interactions affecting physical, social and mental wellbeing. For
instance, the use of wearables in education shows positive results in reducing anxiety.
Overall, individuals, governments and organisations are investing in digital technologies as
signals of healthy lifestyles.

Healthy lifestyles are increasingly reflected by communicative media such as numbers,

sounds and symbols to indicate one’s social, physical and mental wellbeing, leading to a
digitised illustrations of self-worth and health standards. Norms of healthy lifestyles are
translated to number of followers, closing 3 rings, achieving 10K steps, sleeping 8 hours,
eating 5 a day, or counting calories, implying that healthy lives can fit into numerical
matrices and algorithms. Even though numbers have been guiding our health for centuries,
a recent study funded by the British Academy small grants scheme indicates that digitizing
healthy lifestyles may have some important implications for young people including
anxieties, negative self-image perceptions and a numerical focused approach. There is a
need for a better, more balanced approach in leading healthy lives.