UC Irvine

In recent years, there are a small but increasing number of personal informatics studies conducted in family settings. Most of these studies were conducted between adult parents and minor children. However, it is unclear how introducing fitness tracking into an intergenerational family influences individual exercise behaviors and family interactions. I address this gap through a mixed-method study based on the usage of WeRun, a fitness data sharing plugin embedded in the pervasive social networking app WeChat, with eight intergenerational families. This study finds that family tracking motivated participants to engage in physical exercise and family interaction. Nevertheless, family members were concern about potential privacy and independence issues. They also worried about the potential health issues resulting from becoming motivated to exercise beyond an appropriate level. This study demonstrates the unique challenges when designing to support fitness tracking for intergenerational families. This study advances the understanding of the influence of family tracking on different generations.