The Stir Kinetic M1 connected standing desk nudges you when it’s time to stretch your legs
One day, when the machines are our overlords, I may regret saying this: I do the bidding of a robot desk, and I’m the better for it.
“Whirrr, whirrr,” goes my Stir Kinetic M1, undulating its desktop to signal it’s time to stand for a while. I oblige, and its mechanized legs rise to meet me.
Twenty minutes later, the desk purrs again. I’ve earned the right to sit back down.
All day long, the M1 logs my ups and downs and coaxes my derrière out of the comfy office chair that doctors agree is nearly as bad as cigarettes and almost certainly turning us into the human whales from the film “WALL-E.”
I burned an extra 850 calories last week as a result of all the extra standing I’ve done in the course of ordinary desk work. That’s equal to 3½ Snickers bars or two sessions of spin class, depending on how you see the world. Standing at work doesn’t strengthen your heart as much as vigorous exercise, but researchers say it can even benefit people who do exercise.
To get this health benefit, all you have to do is let a desk nag you. And shell out $2,990 for the privilege.
That’s a hefty sum, even in the money-pit world of office furniture. Motorized sit/stand desks without computerized brains can be had for a quarter as much. Without question, the M1 smart desk is a luxury—it has its own touch screen, for goodness’ sake. But a dumb desk can’t address the root of the problem: feeble willpower.
If you work with colleagues with sit/stand desks, you’ve probably noticed a good portion still spend most days slumped in their chairs. When the M1’s makers at Stir studied the issue, they found only 30% of people with push-button, height-adjustable desks changed positions at their desks more than once a week. But 95% of Stir desk owners avoided constant sitting each day. These stats will come in handy when you’re trying to persuade your boss to buy you the Tesla of standing desks.
The M1 is just the beginning. Inventors are building sensors and software into all kinds of everyday things like light bulbs, toothbrushes, clothes and, yes, furniture to monitor all the things we don’t have the self-control or attention to do ourselves. It’s called Big Mother tech—like George Orwell’s Big Brother, only with more nagging.
While not every dumb thing gets smarter when you stick a computer in it, the M1 turned out to be quite helpful. The best thing about the M1’s take on data-driven motivation is its subtlety. The desk doesn’t sit-shame you by making an annoying beep or, egads, just rising on its own—two bad ideas that the M1’s makers ruled out early on. Instead, it makes the desk equivalent of a sigh, going up and down about an inch for a few seconds. They call this move a whisper breath.
You might wonder: How does this whispering desk know you’re actually there, instead of stuck in some interminable meeting? The M1 has heat sensors. It detects the warmth of a live human, and only tallies sitting or standing time when one is there. (It could be fooled by a dog at your feet.) If you share a desk with someone else, it identifies people by their unique Fitbit trackers. Soon, it will also be able to ID you by the smartphone you carry.
You’re always in control. The M1 won’t rise or fall without your explicit say-so, and you can temporarily disable the heaving reminders. You double-tap the integrated touch screen to raise or lower the desk to your desired heights—which it remembers. Touch menus let you adjust settings (like how often you want to stand) and find out how well you’re living up to the desk’s expectations.
There’s a power strip built along the back of the desk so you can hide away unsightly power bricks and keep from accidentally strangling your gear as the desk rises. I occasionally brushed the screen by accident and set the desk moving. But it’s slow enough that it didn’t do any damage.
Living with the M1 for two weeks has convinced me of the virtues of a sit/stand desk. Without one, I lose all sense of time and could easily not move out of my chair for three hours—especially when I’m writing. The M1 shifts me up and down without robbing me of focus. And I appreciated the push, since I’m one of those people who needs a trainer for motivation at the gym.
But all this getting up and down also wears me out. It’s a slow-motion squat workout for your legs, much better even than just standing all day. I find myself sometimes leaning on the desk like a crutch, though. People who’ve used sit/stand desks for much longer than me say the fatigue passes as your muscles grow stronger. You’ll need comfy shoes, which may be easier for men to get away with at work. Unfortunately, standing desks contribute to a potential workplace gender divide.
I was initially skeptical of the desk’s estimates of extra calorie burn. Doctors measure the energy cost of different activities based on what’s called a metabolic equivalent of a task, or MET. The M1 calculates extra calorie burn using a MET calculator created by Linak, a business partner that makes the actuators in its legs. But there’s general consensus among researchers that standing requires more energy. Harvard’s School of Public Health’sonline Nutrition Source says standing doing light work can use at least a third more energythan sitting at a computer.
I just wish the M1 could give me credit for jogging before work, and maybe go a little easier on me on those days. Stir creator JP Labrosse, a member of Apple’s original iPod team, says that kind of thing is possible in the future. The M1’s computer already connects to the Internet via Wi-Fi, and can upload your activity to Fitbit’s database.
M1 desks are sold on Stir’s website, at Relax The Back stores and through corporate furniture wholesalers. If you’re still reading, you’re probably trying to figure out how to justify the M1’s borderline ridiculous cost to your boss or spouse. Let me share a few talking points that I’ve been preparing to make my own case after I return my loaner:
• This version of the Stir M1 actually costs $1,000 less than the first model that came out last year. $3,000 is a steal!
• The average Stir desk user stands 50% of the day.
• According to science, sitting down for more than three hours a day can shave a person’s life expectancy by two years. WHY IS THIS JOB TRYING TO KILL ME?
• IKEA makes a standing desk for just $489, butassembling that could lead to divorce.
• The desk’s little computer can be upgraded, so hey, futureproofing!
• Buying this desk actually costs about as much as two fancy spin classes a week for a year. I’ll burn the same amount of calories—and nobody has to see me in Spandex.
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