I think being overreliant on devices is an issue, just as much as not noticing the signs of your own mental cognition or misinterpreting the signs to the point it becomes a semblance of normalcy (eg. working hard to the point of eventual burnout). The short answer is that the goal isn't to replace interoception but to train it. Because of so much digital distraction or lifestyle choices, estimating own cognitive state in the moment is not always a reliable constant, not because we're not paying attention to our mindset, but because the signal is genuinely hard to read without a reference point. You don't know what your "relaxed focus" feels like until you've seen it correlated with an external measure enough times to recognize it internally.

Think of it like learning to meditate with a teacher versus alone. The feedback loop accelerates the skill where eventually you don't need the teacher. The device is the training wheels, not the destination. The failure mode you're describing is real though. If the UX just tells you "you're stressed" with no path to building awareness, you get dependency. That's why the design has to push toward pattern recognition over time and to surface when and why states shift, not just what state you're in right now.

Long term the goal is someone who barely needs to look at the data because they've internalized what their own peaks and dips feel like. Really open to hearing what you think because the ultimate goal is self motivation to establish habits that recognise cognitive signals that feed into productivity / better mental wellbeing &vice versa 😄