Engagement and the Quantified Self: Uneventful Relationships with Ghostly Companions

Ruffino, Paolo

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-65379-2_2

Cited by 4 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…The studies range from the sociopolitical analysis that draws upon Foucauldian theories of self-surveillance and governmentality, socio-psychological and behavioral studies that focus on the effectiveness of health promotion, to Science, Technology and Society (STS) studies that focus on human-tech interactions. Sociologists criticize this "quantified self" trend as a neoliberal form of self-governance, which has reduced the social context of health to a bunch of numbers with an increasing focus on individual responsibility and self-surveillance (Ajana 2013;Lupton 2012 andNeff and Nafus 2016;Ruffino 2018). Some of them raise questions about the politics of bodily control in public and private life (Lupton 2016) and the value, agency, and expression of identity (Ajana 2018).…”

Section: Monitoring Health As a "Self-centered" Practicementioning

confidence: 99%

Interpreting fitness: self-tracking with fitness apps through a postphenomenology lens

Zheng

2021

AI & Soc

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Fitness apps on mobile devices are gaining popularity, as more people are engaging in self-tracking activities to record their status of fitness and exercise routines. These technologies also evolved from simply recording steps and offering exercise suggestions to an integrated lifestyle guide for physical wellbeing, thus exemplify a new era of "quantified self" in the context of health as individual responsibility. There is a considerable amount of literature in science, technology and society (STS) studies looking at this phenomenon from different perspectives, linking it with the sociology of self-surveillance and neoliberal regimes of health. However, the human-technology interface, through which the micro- (behavioral) and macro- (social) aspects converge, still calls for extensive examination. This paper approaches this topic from the postphenomenological perspective, in combination with empirical studies of design analysis and interviews of fitness apps, to reveal the human-technology link between the design elements and people's perception through the direct experiences and interpretations of technology. It argues that the intentionality of self-tracking fitness app designs mediates the human-technology relations by "guiding" people into a quantified knowledge regime. It shapes the perceptions of fitness and health with representations of meanings about a "good life" of individual success and management. This paper also gives a critique of current individual, performance-oriented fitness app designs and offers the possibility of seeking alternatives through the multistable nature of human-technology relations—how altering interpretation and meaning of the design with a cultural or social context could change the form of technological embodiment.

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Section: Monitoring Health As a "Self-centered" Practicementioning

confidence: 99%

Interpreting fitness: self-tracking with fitness apps through a postphenomenology lens

Zheng

2021

AI & Soc

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“…Much research has now explored the use of self-tracking technologies in multiple settings, such as employment and insurance schemes, in schools, within self-quantification/tracking communities, and in leisure pursuits (Ajana, 2017, 2018; Fotopoulou & O’Riordan, 2016; Goodyear et al, 2017; Kristensen & Prigge, 2018; Lupton, 2014; Moore, 2017; Moore et al, 2018; Rettberg, 2014, 2018; Ruffino, 2018; Spiller et al, 2018; Till, 2018). There is, however, a paucity of research on the use of these technologies in representations of “health” on social media, with particular reference to how these performed health identities affect users’ health behaviors in their offline daily lives.…”

Section: Self-tracking Technologies and Instagram As Health Managemenmentioning

confidence: 99%

Self-Tracking Health Over Time: From the Use of Instagram to Perform Optimal Health to the Protective Shield of the Digital Detox

Kent

2020

Social Media + Society

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Instagram and self-tracking technologies enable multiple ways to perform and represent the body and health. No research has yet explored how self-tracking technologies and self-representations of health identity on social media, in particular Instagram, influence health “sharing” online and individual health management offline. To enable a thorough investigation of how self-tracking mediations of identity construction work in practice, through a textual and thematic analysis of empirical ethnographic data from online content, reflexive diaries and semi-structured interviews with 14 participants, this research examines the use of these converged technologies to share health-related data on Instagram in the performance of optimal health identities. Participants identified pressures that arose from this continual performative identity of being a healthy role model under persistent self- and community surveillance, which also led to the development of powerful compulsions to use these technologies to document and share many aspects of health and lifestyle. Over time, the participants attempted to disengage and detox either temporarily or permanently from Instagram, to enable a protective shield from the pervasive, normalized surveillance and community practices. Most interestingly, even when they removed these technologies and platforms from their daily lives, participants still felt neglectful to their devices, to themselves, and to their communities online in their abstinence and resistance to perform optimal health practices.

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“…This statement confirms the reflection of self-observation made by Paolo Ruffino, who stated that the intimate engagement that is promised by self-tracker marketing campaigns never happened in his case: he also did not experience meaningful self-exploration. For him, self-tracking was only automatic data registration which did not translate into the process of constructing identity (Ruffino 2018).…”

Section: Quantified-self and "Data-selfie": The Artistic Projects Of mentioning

confidence: 99%

Somatic Narratives about Illness. Biometric Visualization of Diseased and Disabled Bodies in Art and Science Projects

Twardoch-Raś

2020

Humanities

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This article proposes investigating how the problem of chronic and deadly diseases and bodily injuries is explored in selected contemporary artistic projects based on biometric technologies and medical imaging. All of the projects that will be analysed use specific medical tools and methods (e.g., roentgenography or bio-tracking) to provide detailed, affective images of disability and illness. Nonetheless, these projects were created as pieces of art that combine visual and verbal elements: photographs, collages, and other illustrated stories (e.g., "biometric diaries" or open-source art). On the one hand, they show the "inner" and often invisible face of illness and suffering, but on the other hand they also raise questions related to algorithmic reductionism and politicization of such forms of representation of disease. This article will focus on artistic projects created by Diane Covert, Salvatore Iaconesi and Laurie Frick. It refers to the 'ethos of health' and the conception of ethopolitics (Nicolas Rose) to show the place in contemporary biopolitical society of illness (Thomas Lemke), which can be seen as an exceptional form of the body's condition. Moreover, it considers the problem of the politicization of the biological body and affective experiences (Britta Timm Knudsen and Carsten Stage) and the category of untold histories explored by Joanne Garde-Hansen and Kristyn Gorton.

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Engagement and the Quantified Self: Uneventful Relationships with Ghostly Companions

Cited by 4 publications

References 14 publications

Interpreting fitness: self-tracking with fitness apps through a postphenomenology lens

Interpreting fitness: self-tracking with fitness apps through a postphenomenology lens

Self-Tracking Health Over Time: From the Use of Instagram to Perform Optimal Health to the Protective Shield of the Digital Detox

Somatic Narratives about Illness. Biometric Visualization of Diseased and Disabled Bodies in Art and Science Projects

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