From streaming services to bikes: The 2024 Building H Index reveals which everyday items can help or harm your health, and how small changes can make a big difference in improving your well-being.
Building H Index 2024 Image credit: Stokkete / Shutterstock
A recent report by Building H, part of the Institute of Public Health, “Building H Index 2024,” measures how popular products and services impact the health of users, with a particular focus on non-healthcare related items. Rated and ranked based on how much it gives you.
Authors Steve Downs and Thomas Goetz, co-founders of Building H, identify more than 75 services and products across the transportation, housing, food, and entertainment industries that help improve time outdoors, social engagement, sleep, and exercise. ,meal.
Health indicators that hold companies accountable
The Building H Index identifies and ranks products and services that have the potential to impact human health by influencing behavior. Items that change diet, physical and outdoor activities, sleep, and social participation can impact mental and physical health and even increase the risk of chronic disease, and their impact will be scrutinized There is a need.
Each item was given an H score from 0 to 100. A higher score indicates a better impact for your service or product. 0 is the worst in all five domains, and 50 indicates a neutral impact.
The highest score a service or product received was 82 and the lowest score was 18. Three of the top scorers were from the housing industry, with a particular focus on car-free apartment communities that emphasize social interaction and outdoor space. Meanwhile, most of those with the lowest scores were from the entertainment sector, with streaming services scoring poorly. Seven of those with the lowest scores were in the entertainment industry (video streaming). Two were food and grocery delivery services.
The authors found that many services and products influenced multiple behaviors, with nearly 60% of the items rated influencing all five behaviors. Food delivery services not only impact eating habits, but also time outdoors, social interaction, and physical activity.
About consumption news
Advances in technology have focused on making products more widely available and easier to use, but recent innovations are making unhealthy items more accessible and harder to resist. It seems so.
The authors discussed the use of autoplay on streaming services. This encourages binge-watching. Hulu was one of the first streaming services to let users disable autoplay in 2022, and nearly every streaming platform has since followed suit, showing how small changes can improve your health. was shown. Streaming services can also affect healthy eating, exercise, social contact, and sleep.
Social media platforms, on the other hand, have introduced technologies such as notifications, social rewards, and infinite scrolling that are designed to keep users coming back and staying on the platform for longer periods of time.
Ordering products online exposes users to cross-selling, which can lead to unnecessary and unplanned purchases.
Food and grocery delivery services like Shipt are introducing features like “hosting hubs” to help users plan social gatherings, while Blue Apron is launching features in 2023 to encourage outdoor activities. started offering picnic meal options. Both changes are in response to previous government recommendations focused on health. Index of building H.
Artificial intelligence is exacerbating these trends, with food delivery services offering automated deliveries in some regions and social media companies using artificial intelligence to increase engagement. As self-driving cars become more widespread, some researchers believe that their use for short-distance trips will increase, impacting the environment.
Another emerging concern is that many of these products are designed to minimize or eliminate human contact. At the same time, companies may consider people encounters to be “inefficient” from a product perspective. They are very important for health and well-being.
For example, DoorDash introduced an AI-powered voice service that allows restaurants to process delivery orders without human staff and limits social interaction. It’s now easier than ever to purchase products from a brick-and-mortar store without interacting with an employee.
healthier options
On the bright side, companies across all industries are making their products healthier for their customers, including chain restaurants that emphasize nutritional quality, avoid drive-thru service, and offer walkable locations in their restaurants. The report revealed that they are finding ways to do so.
While most game publishers offer products that keep people indoors and isolated, some companies require people to be more active outdoors. Niantic Labs, a top scorer in entertainment, has developed augmented reality (AR) games like Pokémon GO that encourage users to be physically active and spend time outdoors. Bicycle-related products were among the highest-scoring products in the transportation category, as were micromobility companies offering social, outdoor and active transportation.
The authors identified housing companies focused on developing car-free apartment communities where residents have access to fresh food and can gather in outdoor social spaces.
More builders and developers are building health-beneficial facilities such as bike and walk areas, pools, gyms, outdoor grills, and playgrounds. But builders with the highest scores for health also have the most expensive products. The benefits of living in healthier communities will be disproportionately reaped by the wealthy.
conclusion
The authors say, “Our purpose with this index is not to simply scold, but to challenge all companies to make today’s products healthier.” Even if a product is never completely “better for you,” it can still be better. ”
This report highlights that there are many opportunities for companies to make their products healthier through minor changes. Even services that aren’t great for users, such as streaming entertainment, can be improved by allowing users to turn off autoplay. Autoplay is a feature that is now included on nearly all major platforms, following previous Building H recommendations.
Bedtime modes on smartphones, gaming platforms, and social media platforms can help users achieve their goals for healthier sleep patterns. Meanwhile, the food industry can find ways to prioritize social interactions between customers and staff as an opportunity to build relationships.
Opportunities for companies to improve include respecting consumer preferences, limiting attempts to encourage extra consumption, and making healthier options the default. By monitoring trends and making relevant information available, you can design experiences and environments that make healthier behaviors more accessible.
The report also highlights how some companies that promote social engagement and outdoor activities are already implementing such changes, such as Blue Apron’s picnic meal kits and Shipt’s hosting hub. There is. The industry can think about meeting the broader needs of users while prioritizing their health.
