Tracking tools change our behaviour.

A photo of Jacqs in a less cool meeting place.

Last night Jon and I went to the pub after work. His partner Jacqueline joined us for a really nice end to a Friday.

She has type 1 and at one point checked her CGM to see where she was at. Then we kept on chatting about Frank Ocean (an R&B singer), her statistical research and ethnic demographic inequality in university admittance. Okay, maybe not the most interesting conversation for those outside our geekdom, but we talked about Frank Ocean anyway.

About 90 minutes after she checked, I started to wonder again how she was doing. She checked again and was still in range. (We’re good friends and she doesn’t mind me asking.)

But then we realised the impact tracking my kids’ sugars has on my thinking patterns. It wasn’t discipline or being a good person that made me think about where her sugars were. It was just that the tool we use has shaped my rhythms.

Tracking my kids’ sugars has created rhythms in my thinking, so I’m not being disciplined: I’m just thinking about what’s next within a two hour period, since that’s about the amount of time insulin is estimated to be mostly active. (And yes, that’s the ‘Active’ in mumoActive.)

We’re building for the Apple watch to make it easier to enter sugars.

The tools we use in any part of our life – smartphones, wearables, insulin pens – these all have an impact on the rhythms and patterns we build into our lives.

We will keep building the tools better so you can get on with your life and diabetes management becomes more about rhythms and less about trying to make your doctor happy or trying to be a good person.

Enjoy the weekend.

Sheldon (my wife and I have two kids type 1)