THIS WEEK

The scene: my husband and I are out for a leisurely stroll. Birds are chirping. We’re laughing like a romcom couple (sort of). I can smell the sea. Then my face turns dark, moody. In the movie version, the soundtrack would now be punctuated with tensionbuilding strings.

I’ve just realised I don’t have my phone with me, nor my active watch on. ‘‘We’ve done at least 5000 steps, and it’s wasted,’’ I say, sans irony.

I am, it’s embarrassing to admit it, genuinely upset that the number of times I’ve put one foot in front of the other hasn’t been officially counted towards my daily, monthly or annual tally (which I obsessively keep track of).

My husband raises one eyebrow, smiles, and says, ‘‘well you best camp out here then, no point walking back home if it’s not on your step count.’’

I guffaw with a snarl and then snap out of it (sort of). I have ‘‘gamified’’ walking. And this is a phenomenon that George Fenwick explores in this week’s cover story. It’s not all bad – the fact I won’t rest until I’ve hit my daily minimum step count of 8000 is, on balance, good for my physical and mental health (I think).

I’ve been known to pace before bed to get the last few hundred in, and just last night went out for a 9pm walk because I’d been too busy (read: lazy) during the day. I returned home happier. When I was in MIQ, not allowed to leave the room for the first 8 days, I’d circuit the length of the room (9 steps) every few hours for 10 minutes. I didn’t look particularly sound of mind doing so, but moving regularly helped me.

George dives into apps such as Goodreads and Nike Run Club in the story (on the latter, I’ve developed a slightly unhealthy dependence on Coach Chris, but hey, keeps me running, aye?). He looks into both the positives and negatives of the sharing and tracking culture around them. And sure it’s all very performative, as is social media, but then isn’t life performative daaaaahhhhlings? And perhaps it’s more fun that way.