I expected Real to be extremely skeptical about new devices that use cloud-based AI to interpret biodata. After all, are human relationships too complicated to benefit from, amirite? But he immediately surprised me by revealing that he uses similar devices in his office. “HeartMath has a device called the Emwave,” Real said. “I’ve been using this for decades with very reactive partners.”
As it turns out, real-time biofeedback is useful – to some extent. These “tools are a way to track when people lose their shit,” Real said. “It helps them to update in a more adult way. But beware of what I call the battles of objectivity, where the data proves that you are this or that. “
You need an experienced therapist to put the data into action. Because Real It is therapist, I found myself sharing my data with him and, for context, telling him about a source of conflict in my marriage. I grew up outside a big city on the east coast, while my husband comes from a small town in the south. Due to the different social conditions I have experienced growing up in these disparate regions, he occasionally finds the way I speak – the speed, the tone, the large volume of facts or interesting things to remember or the demands I make in short periods of time. – to be aggressive, overwhelming or confrontational.
I will give him some of these points, but Halo also provides evidence that, in general, I do I have especially cheerful, with high energy and rarely irritable or angry. There’s no problem, is there? The truth does not agree.
“I like to say the answer to the question who is right and who is wrong is’ Who cares? “Real said. “Feedback is good, as long as you don’t hypnotize yourself with the power of objectivity. I don’t want technology to be more important than your humanity. If your husband thinks you are aggressive, your husband wins Halo. “
“Objectively, you are not irritable. He invents that, “Real continued.” Subjectively, they speak slowly and gently where it comes from, and you are not, so could you please talk more than you used to? Why not? You will try. It only goes that far and you will have to accept how far you go. That’s how real couples work. “
The Halo app pairs with the device and shows the user a dashboard showing activity and mental state, among other data points.
Photo: AmazonTalking heads
After my month of testing, I couldn’t wait to get the Halo out. With an unusual selection of features, I just didn’t find it useful as a fitness tracker. It also doesn’t motivate me to move as much as I should. Halo encourages the wearer to collect 150 activity points per week, but we accumulate so many in one day. And the displayless design didn’t help me get to any meeting on time; For that, I really need a real watch face.