You may "Walk Like an Egyptian" (The Bangles), "Walk Right In" (New Christy Minstrels), or be "Walking on Sunshine" (Katrina and the Waves). But however you do it, you want to know how many steps you're taking — and have an incentive to take more.

Fitness trackers not only count your steps, they can tell you your sleep time and quality, sun exposure, calories burned, and where you are in space and time.

That seems great. But according to a new study, people who use fitness trackers log significantly fewer steps daily than those who use a simple step-counting pedometer.

Maybe it's because you have to stop walking to read the screen. Whatever it is, new-fangled fitness trackers aren't boosting people’s dose of daily exercise.

According to the study, which appeared in the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, "newer devices ... are less advantageous than simpler pedometers."

When the researchers looked at data on step-counting, they found that after four-plus months of daily use, people with body-worn fitness trackers and smartphone apps took 834 fewer steps a day than those using a straightforward pedometer.

What about non-counters?

A 2007 a study in JAMA found people with a pedometer walked 2,491 more steps daily than folks who never counted steps.

If you're serious about getting in 10,000 life-changing steps each day, download a well-rated, free pedometer onto your phone or buy a simple step counter.