Every August, the world seems to press “reset.” Markers are on sale, backpacks are dusted off, and kids (and parents) try valiantly to adjust bedtime before the first day of school. But in 2025, as backpacks get heavier and schedules fill up, many students and parents are asking: Can tech help us make better health and wellness decisions? Or is it just another distraction?

What if this year, “smart choices” meant more than getting homework done, but also making better decisions for our bodies and minds?

Let’s dive into how to make smarter choices this school year—and whether your Apple Watch, FitBit, or favorite mindfulness app deserves a place in your school day routine.

The Real Decisions That Shape Our School Days

From the moment kids and teens wake up, their days are full of decisions: hit snooze or get up, choose eggs or waffles, join the soccer team or drama club (or maybe both). These everyday choices add up, affecting energy, focus, and even happiness.But let’s be real: with the flood of sports, study, and social updates (not to mention all the health advice out there), decision-making can get overwhelming. That’s where digital health tools—yes, even wearables if used prudently—can become allies and not just shiny gadgets.

How Feedback Helps the Brain Make Healthier Choices

Research in neuroscience and psychology shows that receiving immediate feedback—such as a gentle vibration from a wearable device or a notification on your phone reminding you to pause and take a breath—can nudge the brain toward making healthier decisions. This approach is known as a closed-loop feedback system. These systems are effective because they help people see, in real time, how their behaviors influence factors like mood, energy levels, or ability to focus.

However, using these tools doesn’t mean we should ignore our own feelings or become overly reliant on the numbers they provide. It’s important to remember that health data are meant to guide and support decisions, not to dictate every action or be treated as strict performance scores. Relying too heavily on data can lead to decision fatigue, where making constant small choices wears down our mental energy. In some cases, over-monitoring with health devices has even been linked to increased stress and anxiety.

Finding a balance is key: use feedback as a helpful prompt but also tune in to your body’s own signals.

⌚ The Wearables Debate: Are Devices Like Oura Rings and Apple Watches Helpful or Harmful for Young People?

In recent years, wearable devices—ranging from Fitbits and Apple Watches to Garmin and Oura trackers—have become common accessories for children and teenagers, especially with the return to school. These devices promise a wealth of data: tracking step counts, monitoring heart rate, and even providing detailed analyses of sleep patterns. But the question remains—should we be encouraging young people to use them?

Potential Benefits of Wearables

Promoting Physical Activity
Research suggests that the use of wearables can lead to a modest increase in physical activity among children and adolescents. By providing immediate feedback such as step counts, activity rings, or gentle movement reminders, these devices can serve as motivators, nudging users toward healthier routines.

Enhancing Sleep Awareness
Many students (and their parents) overestimate the adequacy of their sleep. Exposure to objective sleep data can illuminate discrepancies between perceived and actual rest. Devices such as the popular Oura Ring aim to identify irregular or suboptimal sleep patterns, which can be particularly enlightening for teenagers, whose sleep-wake cycles are naturally prone to instability.

Supporting Mindfulness
Some wearables now incorporate prompts for mindfulness or stress reduction, such as breathing exercises or alerts when elevated heart rates signal stress. These cues can serve as simple, accessible interventions for self-regulation.

Important Caveats and Concerns

Limitations in Accuracy
It is critical to recognize that the algorithms underpinning these devices, especially regarding sleep, are imperfect. Wearables often confuse periods of restlessness or minor movement with true wakefulness. Thus, their readouts should be viewed as general guides rather than definitive accounts of biological processes.

Risk of Over-Reliance
One concern with wearable use among younger populations is the potential displacement of internal cues. There is a developmental imperative for children and teens to learn to interpret their own physical sensations—hunger, fatigue, stress—without over-dependence on external devices.

Technology-Related Stress
Rather than easing anxiety, excessive self-monitoring can, for some, amplify stress and perfectionism. Children may become preoccupied with statistical targets—step goals, closed rings—and experience distress when these benchmarks are not reached.

Data Privacy
Wearables collect and, in some cases, transmit sensitive health data. Families should be diligent in reviewing privacy policies and understanding how personal information is utilized or shared by device manufacturers.

Before adopting wearable technology, it is worth asking: Is this tool fostering my child’s self-awareness, or is it creating new dependencies?

Use Wearables as Reference Points, Not Absolutes

Digital health feedback should supplement, not supplant, personal experience. If a device’s “sleep score” contradicts your subjective sense of rest and alertness, prioritize your own perception. Algorithms, while improving, are no match for your brain’s nuanced appraisal of its own state.

So how do you make better decisions?

 🧠 Decision-Making 101: Prioritize Habits Over Hype

The most valuable skill we can impart to young people is not how to interpret data, but how to make consistently good decisions independent of technological prompts.

Make Healthful Choices Automatic
Establish clear if-then routines (“If it’s 8:30 p.m., then I put away screens and start winding down for sleep; If I feel anxious before a test, then I take three slow, deep breaths”). The scientific literature refers to these as “implementation intentions”—strategies shown to significantly increase the likelihood of following through on health-promoting behaviors. 

Reduce Decision Fatigue
Our cognitive resources are finite. Rather than deliberating daily on what to eat or wear, consider “batching” decisions such as selecting snacks and outfits in advance so that you can reserve your mental energy for learning, socializing, and creativity. 

Smart tech is only as smart as how you use it. If we want to raise independent, resilient, health-conscious students, the best thing we can do is teach decision-making, not just data-tracking.

You can also keep in mind, the M.I.N.D. framework I shared in my last post. 

Heading Into Fall: A Mindset for Success

This year, set a family intention: instead of chasing “perfect,” aim for progress. Make one or two health choices easier and celebrate small wins, whether that’s drinking water before math, walking home, or having device-free dinners once a week.

How to Make Better Health Decisions Together

Pick one focus area: Maybe it’s more sleep, better hydration, or stress management. (Trying to track everything can backfire!)

Turn feedback into action, not anxiety: If you notice (whether by using a wearable or your own awareness) that seven hours of sleep led to better quiz scores, that’s real-world motivation—not pressure.

Make it fun: Families or friends can set shared goals: who can rack up the most daily steps, or make the healthiest breakfasts?

Embrace “good enough”: Plenty of important habits—like laughter with friends or creative downtime—aren’t tracked by any device, and that’s great.

The Final Grade: Tech Can Help—but You Make the Decisions

Smartphones and wearables aren’t inherently good or bad. They’re like textbooks: useful if you read them, distracting if you sleep on them. The real power lies in how you use your tools, and whether you pause long enough to choose what’s helpful.

So this school year, try this:

Set your tech up to support your health.

Let data inform, not control, your decisions.

And most importantly, put your phone down sometimes and just… breathe.

Because the smartest decision you’ll make isn’t in your pocket—it’s in your habits.

Image by Eyestetix Studio on Unsplash