Why Do People Abandon Activity Trackers? The Role of User Diversity in Discontinued Use

Activity trackers are promising tools to increase the motivation to be physically active, thus strengthening users' physical constitution and potentially preventing cardiovascular diseases. To establish behavioral changes with such beneficial consequences, prolonged continuous use of trackers seems to be necessary. However, the usage behavior of many tracker users is characterized by interruptions or complete discontinuation after only a few months. Which factors determine individual usage trajectories is still unclear. This research sheds light on user diversity to investigate how inter-individual differences are related to reasons for usage interruptions and permanence of abandonment. Results based on a survey of N = 159 former users revealed that usage motives regarding self-determination theory, domain-specific personality traits (affinity for technology interaction), and interaction variables (dependency effect, trust in activity tracker measurement) were related to specific reasons for usage interruptions. Moreover, highly autonomous usage motivation and high trust were linked to more fragile abandonment decisions.