This column is an extract from the "Darons Daronnes" ("Moms and Pops") weekly parenting newsletter, which is sent out every Wednesday at 6 pm. You can subscribe to the newsletter for free by following this link.

For my birthday last year, I bought myself a (reconditioned)smart watch. When I asked my office coworker, Nicolas Six, who writes for Le Monde's "Pixels" section, which brand to go for, he replied: "Oh, you know, I don't think a smart sports watch is a great idea at our age. From 40 on, no matter what you do, you're going to see all your performance averages decrease." Happy birthday!

I bought it anyway, because the truth is, I love statistics – even when they're not flattering. I'm aware of the perverse effects of this permanent quantification of our beings. I've even written about it several times in various articles. But I can't help it: yesterday at the gym, I was so happy when I got to 600 kcal by sweating on the elliptical and rowing machine that I stopped dead on that round number, right in the middle of my virtual rowing pool. When I run, I sometimes turn in circles on the sidewalk in front of my house just to avoid the annoyance of having run 9,98 km. So much for embarrassing confessions.

You have 80.04% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.