Scott K
Member
- Joined
- Sep 18, 2017
- Posts
- 266
A strange alert appeared on the screen of my phone on Sunday. An armless kangaroo encircled by a heart-shape told me that it was awaiting the results of this week's 'challenge'. "That was strange" I thought to myself. "Something in the matrix has changed". I took a breath and delved in again.
I knew, I had long felt, change was coming. I heard whispers of legal disputes, strategy changes, something about Kevin Rudd. Does he retain his chairman's lounge access? I digress.
A swipe and a tap. My Qantas Assure app was gone. Instead a glowing red and white icon labeled 'Wellbeing' now rest in its place. Another tap and the app opened up, looking the same as the QA app before it. If Qantas were to have a motto based on the views of the flying public it would surely be 'the more things change, the more things stay the same'. The app seems no different.
But this had me thinking. I once installed the app to retain points, or earn points during long idle times. Oddly over time it has been a fair little earner for me. But at what cost? I work in health, and like almost everyone in health I walk an awful lot. I'm not super-fit by any yogic contortion of the description but I rack up more steps than my fitness fanatic friend of whom I trounce in step challenges almost every week. I guess it is like challenging a truck against a sports car for how much of Australia they see. One is small, nimble and fast but only bolts occasionally, while the other is lumbering but always moving.
I collect the points, but they collect the data. Is my privacy at risk? are they monetising my data about my day to day activity and selling it on to other health retailers? I hope they aren't getting too much for it, because on the steps alone I look very positive on the health front. 12k to 20k steps a day is my average range, with some days cracking well beyond that. And yet I haven't provided my BMI to the app - a metric that would put things into greater proportion, but earn me a measly 5 points. The constant requests for this metric have now disappeared off my main screen. The policy on what is done with the data isn't easily sighted or cited.
And then there's email. In the 80's I recall seeing my letterbox filled daily with glossy dead tree remnants with whiz pow pop colouring - except for the junk from Franklins supermarket. Now my inbox looks the same, and Qantas health insurance, travel insurance and stuff like 'travel insider' make up a large chunk of the stuff deleted in bulk the same way as I used to drop the junk mail into the plastic bin for the local footballers to pick up in the pre-wheelie bin and massive robot arm days.
if I glance at the email junk mail, I am usually visually assaulted with images of sunsets and 20-or-so year olds that probably tech yoga at remote locations where their dentist whitened teeth make them stand out as being obviously not from there. As a man in his 40's this always feels as relevant to me as Shane Warne appeared to while standing next to Liz Hurley. I hardly feel targeted. Then again, women in their early 20's with yoga bodies are used to sell everything these days. I'm surprised they didn't make the 'wellbeing' logo out of the kangaroo's amputated arms forming a 'heart-hands' logo.
So I'll continue to earn points via Wellbeing instead of Qantas Assure. I may even contemplate their insurance offer from time to time. Kevin Rudd doesn't have a yoga body though. But as he's a very frequent flyer I wonder what his thoughts are on the app. How about you folk? How do you feel about that wellbeing square on your phone. To be fair to the app, it has been good to motivate me to take some extra steps every day to just get, what eventually turns out to be a single point.
Scott K
I knew, I had long felt, change was coming. I heard whispers of legal disputes, strategy changes, something about Kevin Rudd. Does he retain his chairman's lounge access? I digress.
A swipe and a tap. My Qantas Assure app was gone. Instead a glowing red and white icon labeled 'Wellbeing' now rest in its place. Another tap and the app opened up, looking the same as the QA app before it. If Qantas were to have a motto based on the views of the flying public it would surely be 'the more things change, the more things stay the same'. The app seems no different.
But this had me thinking. I once installed the app to retain points, or earn points during long idle times. Oddly over time it has been a fair little earner for me. But at what cost? I work in health, and like almost everyone in health I walk an awful lot. I'm not super-fit by any yogic contortion of the description but I rack up more steps than my fitness fanatic friend of whom I trounce in step challenges almost every week. I guess it is like challenging a truck against a sports car for how much of Australia they see. One is small, nimble and fast but only bolts occasionally, while the other is lumbering but always moving.
I collect the points, but they collect the data. Is my privacy at risk? are they monetising my data about my day to day activity and selling it on to other health retailers? I hope they aren't getting too much for it, because on the steps alone I look very positive on the health front. 12k to 20k steps a day is my average range, with some days cracking well beyond that. And yet I haven't provided my BMI to the app - a metric that would put things into greater proportion, but earn me a measly 5 points. The constant requests for this metric have now disappeared off my main screen. The policy on what is done with the data isn't easily sighted or cited.
And then there's email. In the 80's I recall seeing my letterbox filled daily with glossy dead tree remnants with whiz pow pop colouring - except for the junk from Franklins supermarket. Now my inbox looks the same, and Qantas health insurance, travel insurance and stuff like 'travel insider' make up a large chunk of the stuff deleted in bulk the same way as I used to drop the junk mail into the plastic bin for the local footballers to pick up in the pre-wheelie bin and massive robot arm days.
if I glance at the email junk mail, I am usually visually assaulted with images of sunsets and 20-or-so year olds that probably tech yoga at remote locations where their dentist whitened teeth make them stand out as being obviously not from there. As a man in his 40's this always feels as relevant to me as Shane Warne appeared to while standing next to Liz Hurley. I hardly feel targeted. Then again, women in their early 20's with yoga bodies are used to sell everything these days. I'm surprised they didn't make the 'wellbeing' logo out of the kangaroo's amputated arms forming a 'heart-hands' logo.
So I'll continue to earn points via Wellbeing instead of Qantas Assure. I may even contemplate their insurance offer from time to time. Kevin Rudd doesn't have a yoga body though. But as he's a very frequent flyer I wonder what his thoughts are on the app. How about you folk? How do you feel about that wellbeing square on your phone. To be fair to the app, it has been good to motivate me to take some extra steps every day to just get, what eventually turns out to be a single point.
Scott K
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), but one of them made absolutely no sense. 
