Digital Inequalities in the Use of Self-Tracking Diet and Fitness Apps: Interview Study on the Influence of Social, Economic, and Cultural Factors

Background: Digital devices are driving economic and social transformations, but assessing the uses, perceptions, and impact
of these new technologies on diet and physical activity remains a major societal challenge.
Objective: We aimed to determine under which social, economic, and cultural conditions individuals in France were more likely
to be actively invested in the use of self-tracking diet and fitness apps for better health behaviors.
Methods: Existing users of 3 diet and fitness self-tracking apps (Weight Watchers, MyFitnessPal, and sport apps) were recruited
from 3 regions of France. We interviewed 79 individuals (Weight Watchers, n=37; MyFitnessPal, n=20; sport apps, n=22).
In-depth semistructured interviews were conducted with each participant, using open-ended questions about their use of diet and
fitness apps. A triangulation of methods (content, textual, and quantitative analyses) was performed.
Results: We found 3 clusters of interviewees who differed by social background and curative goal linked to use under constraint
versus preventive goal linked to chosen use, and intensity of their self-quantification efforts and participation in social networks.
Interviewees used the apps for a diversity of uses, including measurement, tracking, quantification, and participation in digital
communities. A digital divide was highlighted, comprising a major social gap. Social conditions for appropriation of self-tracking
devices included sociodemographic factors, life course stages, and cross-cutting factors of heterogeneity.
Conclusions: Individuals from affluent or intermediate social milieus were most likely to use the apps and to participate in the
associated online social networks. These interviewees also demonstrated a preventive approach to a healthy lifestyle. Individuals
from lower milieus were more reluctant to use digital devices relating to diet and physical activity or to participate in
self-quantification. The results of the study have major implications for public health: the digital self-quantification device is
intrinsically less important than the way the individual uses it, in terms of adoption of successful health behaviors.