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Abstract：
Step counting is among the fundamental features of wearable technology, as it grounds several uses of wearables in biomedical research and clinical care, is at the center of emerging public health interventions and recommendations, and is gaining increasing scientific and political importance. This paper provides a perspective of step counting in wearable technology, identifying some limitations to the ways in which wearable technology measures steps and indicating caution in current uses of step counting as a proxy for physical activity. Based on an overview of the current state of the art of technologies and approaches to step counting in digital wearable technologies, we discuss limitations that are methodological as well as epistemic and ethical-limitations to the use of step counting as a basis to build scientific knowledge on physical activity (epistemic limitations) as well as limitations to the accessibility and representativity of these tools (ethical limitations). As such, using step counting as a proxy for physical activity should be considered a form of reductionism. This is not per se problematic, but there is a need for critical appreciation and awareness of the limitations of reductionistic approaches. Perspective research should focus on holistic approaches for better representation of physical activity levels and inclusivity of different user populations.
摘要：
计步是可穿戴技术的基本特征之一，因为它证明了可穿戴设备在生物医学研究和临床护理中的几种用途，是新兴公共卫生干预措施和建议的中心，并在科学和政治上日益重要。本文提供了可穿戴技术中计步的视角，识别可穿戴技术测量步骤的方式的一些限制，并在当前使用步数作为身体活动的代理时表明谨慎。基于对数字可穿戴技术中计步技术和方法的当前状态的概述，我们讨论了使用计步法作为建立关于身体活动的科学知识的基础的方法论限制以及认识论和伦理限制(认识论限制),以及这些工具的可及性和代表性的限制(伦理限制).因此，使用步数作为身体活动的代理应被视为简化论的一种形式。这本身没有问题，但是需要对还原论方法的局限性进行批判性的理解和认识。透视研究应侧重于整体方法，以更好地表示身体活动水平和不同用户群的包容性。
