I never had a tamagotchi growing up, but I always thought they were cool. An electronic companion that you feed and exercise seemed fun, and much less maintenance then the real thing. So of course when the Fitbit smart watches started coming out, I got excited. Here is something that will take physically caring for something (feeding, exercising, sleeping) and turn it into electronically calculated statistics. It is a way to distance yourself FROM yourself, to know what the ‘tamagotchi’ should do to make itself healthy and — presumably — happy. It was supposed to be easier and fun, but that’s never how it really goes, is it?
In the beginning it was fun to take her on walks, feed her according to her nutrition needs, send her for a nap when her stats demanded it, but there is always a second shoe that drops, especially with electronics. Suddenly she didn’t want to go on walks, she just wanted to play games in the house instead. Then she became cranky all the time, she started demanded naps even if she had something more important to be doing, and took them anyway despite my protests. However, the final straw was feeding her. She started demanding snacks, getting louder and angrier as time went on, she didn’t care about what she should be eating or what she technically needed, ice cream and chicken wings held a different form of power over her. I’m about ready to give up on trying to give her what the stats say she needs because it’s obnoxiously clear to me what she wants, and it seems to make her happy. Like everyone before me who bought a tamagotchi knows, this thing is incredibly annoying to keep alive.
