Technology: NFP Advances?

Technology is neither good or bad, it is simply a tool. It can be a very helpful tool, but it also can be very misleading.

I was staffing the CANFP exhibit recently at an event, and one of the visitors to our booth was enjoying our wide array of materials and full of questions. She told me she uses and loves NFP, and yet I was confused, as she did not seem to have much understanding of how her body works, the signs of fertility, or the phases of the menstrual cycle. She shared with me that her phone tells her when she ovulates. I asked her, how do you suppose your phone knows that? She pulled out her phone to prove her point, and it did indeed list a date the following week as her ovulation. I asked her what information she provides the program, and she explained she enters the first day of her menses each month, and it then informs her when she will be fertile, her day of ovulation, and when she will have her next period.

If you are unfamiliar with NFP, this sounds great! And it certainly seemed legit, after all, the phone display made it look so official!  But those reading this who are familiar with NFP, know there is a word for this type of “NFP”. It is called the rhythm method. And while the technology displaying it on the phone gives the appearance of being advanced and scientific, this method being used to statistically predict the days of fertility based on past cycles is actually outdated and old fashioned.

And that is how technology can be misleading, giving the appearance of being technologically advanced, when it is anything but.

There is another fertility gadget that records your temperature, and then alerts you when you are fertile, using “bio-mathematical forecasting calculations as well as the very latest computer techniques”.

Seeing a trend here? As anyone who monitors their temperature knows, it cannot be used prospectively to predict fertility, but  as a confirmation of ovulation and  to identify postovulatory fertility. Again, the technical gadget and the language provide the perception of being advanced, but calculating when fertility will occur in future cycles based on when it occurred in past cycles, even when you give it the fancy term “bio-mathematical forecasting”  is just a variation of the old rhythm method.

The rhythm method  was considered outdated long before I started teaching NFP, and that was over thirty years ago (gasp). So it is frustrating to see outdated and inadequate NFP systems being perceived as advanced simply because they are packaged in a technologically advanced device, program, or app.

It is somewhat ironic that the methods that are the most effective and scientifically advanced do not require any gadgets or devices at all, or a thermometer at most. Not only is it frustrating to see inferior outdated methods presented in a misleading way, it is alarming when they are perceived as state of the art by unsuspecting consumers.

This does not mean technology does not have its place, or that all gadgets are based on old methodology. There are monitors that actually measure hormones, and advances in this area will have many applications for NFP. And there are apps and  online programs, and many more in the works, that can be used to track the  information the women observes and inputs.

Whether a couple is recording the observations of their fertility on a paper chart, or in the slickest computer program, the result is only as effective as the information entered.

Undoubtedly, there will be many developments in the coming years in NFP phone apps and online charting, and they will be embraced by a culture that lives on their cell phones, tablets and laptops. We must continue to educate women and couples about modern NFP, so they can be discriminating in their evaluation of the technology out there, and not be misled by style over substance.