M-health and health promotion: The digital cyborg and surveillance society

Abstract

The new mobile wireless computer technologies and social media applications using Web 2.0 platforms have recently received attention from those working in health promotion as a promising new way of achieving their goals of preventing ill-health and promoting healthy behaviours at the population level. There is very little critical examination in this literature of how the use of these digital technologies may affect the targeted groups, in terms of the implications for how individuals experience embodiment, selfhood and social relationships. This article addresses these issues, employing a range of social and cultural theories to do so. It is argued that m-health technologies produce a digital cyborg body. They are able to act not only as prostheses, but also as interpreters of the body. The subject produced through the use of m-health technologies is constructed as both an object of surveillance and persuasion, and as a responsible citizen who is willing and able to act on the health imperatives issuing forth from the technologies and to present their body/self as open to continual measurement and assessment. The implications of this new way of monitoring and regulating health are discussed.

Self-Tracking for Health and the Quantified Self: Re-Articulating Autonomy, Solidarity, and Authenticity in an Age of Personalized Healthcare

“…In response to the overwhelmingly positive attention that self-tracking has received in the medical and public health literature, critical discussions of self-tracking for health have begun to emerge in the social sciences literature (e.g., Lupton 2012Lupton , 2013Lupton , 2014Lupton , 2015Morozov 2013;Whitson 2013;Nafus and Sherman 2014;Ruckenstein 2014;Till 2014), giving rise to a broad, polarized debate. In the following, I analyze three important polarizations involved in this debate that it is helpful to look at in some detail.…”

The many faces of diabetes: A critical multimodal analysis of diabetes pages on Facebook

“…In the weeks following data collection, the Diabetes.co.uk Facebook page published dozens of 'blood sugar selfies', photos submitted by page subscribers posed with glucose meters displaying a reading of their blood sugar. Much like the invitation to provide suggestions on managing hypoglycaemia in Figure 1, Diabetes.co.uk's decision to publish these photos functioned to encourage users to publicise their diabetes management online and make public previously personal aspects of their self-care (Lupton, 2012). While it involved the publication of non-professional images, this proliferation of close-distance demand images was consistent with the visual synthetic personalisation enacted by many of the page's existing posts.…”

“…For Diabetes UK and Diabetes.co.uk, addressing page subscribers as equals invites them to invest in a personal relationship with the organisations and helps to foster participation on their Facebook pages and external websites. By posting comments, users are encouraged to publicise their personal health experiences (Lupton, 2012) and to position themselves in relation to the information provided on each page, thereby extending their relationship with the organisation and the page's other subscribers. While this may result in increased feelings of support and enhanced quality of life for people with diabetes, it is simultaneously also a process designed to meet the organisational objectives of Diabetes UK and Diabetes.co.uk, such as by increasing their revenues from fundraising or advertising.…”

I feel my wrist buzz. Smartbody and performative sensibility in Fitbit devices

“…Targeted at the production of a personalized intelligence based on ostensive biometric monitoring of the body, wearables act not as simple prostheses or extensions of the cyborgbody, but as interpreters of this (LUPTON, 2012). On the one hand, bodies start to be shaped by the properties assigned by the performative sensibilities of the objects attached to them.…”