Summary

David's friend introduces him to Fitbits, wearable tech that tracks your steps and encourages you to walk 10,000 steps a day. David gets a Fitbit of his own and discovers that it is not hard to reach that goal, particularly since the Fitbit buzzes in response as a tangible and tactile mark of accomplishment. David soon starts walking even more, upping his daily steps to 15,000. At home in the Sussex countryside he walks miles and miles every day. Afraid of poisonous snakes, he begins carrying a grabber ("a hand-sized claw on a pole") (45). With his grabber, he knows he can pick up snakes and fling them far away, but he mostly uses it to pick up trash along his walking route.

Since getting his Fitbit, David has "seen all kinds of things [he] wouldn't normally have come across" including a birthing cow. He averages...