For this assignment, I’d like to examine several key metrics that make up how I spend my time.
- Sleep
- Food
- Productivity
- Location
- Fitness
The data gathered should ideally be as transparent as possible, meaning that I don’t want to have to worry about. All of this data may be overkill, but I would like to have more data to work with rather than fall short.
Sleep | FitBit
The FitBit claims to have sleep tracking and a sleep cycle alarm system built-in, in addition to activity tracking, which makes this a rather appealing device to use for my purposes. However, as I do not currently own a FitBit, I’ve been using Sleep Cycle below.
Sleep | Sleep Cycle
In the past, I have used Sleep Cycle to try and optimize my sleeping patterns and for its alarm clock that wakes me up at the correct time for a restful night sleep. Recently, I have gotten a new phone and have forgotten all about this app. This is an app that I would use again if the FitBits did not work out.
Food | MealSnap
This metric will take a little more effort than the rest to track, but it would be interesting to see how my eating habits have changed since I have become a graduate student. I’d also like to see what happens to my eating during crunch time. For this, I have found an app called MealSnap that claims that be able to estimate calorie count from snapshots of your food. I tend to photograph my food anyways, so this may be useful. It is created by the DailyBurn group and allows for export of data.
Productivity | RescueTime
RescueTime is an app that allows you to track time spent on websites and applications on your computer. I have seen this app a few years ago when they first started in beta. Since then, they seem to have improved quite a bit. It is unclear whether you can export your data, but may still yield some valuable insight.
Location | Google Location History
Google has this little-known feature called Location History that allows you to view the location information that they have gathered about you. This could yield interesting information like how much time I spend on campus vs. at home and how far away do I stray from campus.
Fitness | Nike+ FuelBand SE / FitBit
The FuelBand is a stylish fitness tracker that tracks activity in a proprietary metric called FuelPoints. Seeing that I commute by bike nearly everywhere, this would be and interesting data point for me to measure my activity level. In addition to the FuelBand, I’m hoping to get my hands on a FitBit to compare the data gathered for consistency.