The mundane experience of everyday calorie trackers: Beyond the metaphor of Quantified Self

Didziokaite, Gabija; Saukko, Paula; Greiffenhagen, Christian

doi:10.1177/1461444817698478

Cited by 74 publications

(54 citation statements)

References 32 publications

(118 reference statements)

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“…Jakob, who develops selftracking technologies, compares himself to users with limited capabilities to surpass equipment limitations: As Jakob rightly suggests, most self-trackers abandon their devices when they 'hit the wall'. The capabilities to go forward with self-tracking after 'hitting the wall' form an important dividing line between professionally committed QS members and the more mundane users, who track in order to reach certain pre-defined goals, sporadically, or for shorter periods of time (Didžiokaitė et al, 2017;Lazar et al, 2015).…”

Section: 'Hitting the Wall'mentioning

confidence: 99%

Co-evolving with self-tracking technologies

Kristensen

Ruckenstein

2018

New Media & Society

109

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Seen in a longitudinal perspective, Quantified Self-inspired self-tracking sets up “a laboratory of the self,” where people co-evolve with technologies. By exploring ways in which self-tracking technologies energize everyday aims or are experienced as limiting, we demonstrate how some aspects of the self are amplified while others become reduced and restricted. We suggest that further developing the concept of the laboratory of the self renews the conversation about the role of metrics and technologies by facilitating comparison between different realms of the digital, and demonstrating how services and devices enlarge aspects of the self at the expense of others. The use of self-tracking technologies is inscribed in, but also runs counter to, the larger political-economy landscape. Personal laboratories can aid the exploration of how the techno-mediated selves fit into larger structures of the digital technology market and the role that metrics play in defining them.

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Section: 'Hitting the Wall'mentioning

confidence: 99%

Co-evolving with self-tracking technologies

Kristensen

Ruckenstein

2018

New Media & Society

109

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“…We recently observed that ordinary or casual users of MyFitnessPal calorie counting app did not use its advanced features (retrospective data, forums) and used it temporarily to lose weight (Didžiokait≐ et al . ). Whilst our participants complied with the premise of the technology and counted calories to lose weight, they did not engage with it intensely, reminiscent of earlier studies on reluctant users of the Internet for health information (Henwood et al .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Digital health – a new medical cosmology? The case of 23andMe online genetic testing platform

Saukko

2018

Sociology Health & Illness

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This article argues that commercial digital health platforms and devices commodify participatory features of the digital creating a new medical cosmology. Drawing on sociology on medical cosmologies, research on digital media and marketing and an analysis of the 23andMe online genetic testing platform, I identify three features of this cosmology. First, digital health seeks to foment 'flow' or enjoyable, continuous immersion in health. Second, digital health configures its consumers as 'co-creators' of health data and knowledge together with companies and other consumers. Third, digital health frames medical knowledge as tentative, up for revision and scepticism by expert and lay science. The way in which digital health configures consumers as immersed, creative and sceptical gives it an open-ended and participatory air. However, the conceptual discussion and the analysis of the 23andMe platform highlight that these features represent commercial capture of the lifeworld, even if they appear radical against classical medical cosmologies.

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“…Rather, practice approaches emphasise the ‘ordinary’ (Didziokaite et al . , Lomborg et al . ), routine, unreflexive and integrated experience of self‐tracking as it permeates everyday life (Pink and Fors ); and explore how self‐trackers collectively negotiate and reconstitute the conventions relating to different practices through their engagement with it (Gorm and Shklovski , Smith and Treem ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It has been noted that we know little about people's practical engagement with self‐tracking (Didziokaite et al . , Lomborg and Frandsen ) and that more investigation is needed (Lupton and Smith ). Taking up this challenge, studies have begun to explore the everyday, often mundane practices of self‐tracking (Didziokaite et al .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Taking up this challenge, studies have begun to explore the everyday, often mundane practices of self‐tracking (Didziokaite et al . , Gorm and Shklovski ), often by those managing illness or for leisure‐time athletes, rather than self‐measurement enthusiasts. These studies explore how self‐tracking comes to be meaningful and might be, or fail to be, integrated into everyday routines (Lupton and Smith ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Changing emotional engagement with running through communal self‐tracking: the implications of ‘teleoaffective shaping’ for public health

Spotswood

Shankar

Piwek

2020

Sociology Health & Illness

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Emerging research explores the role of self-tracking in supporting healthy behaviour. Self-tracking comprises a number of interrelated practices; some individual some communal. In this article, we focus on practices that enable interaction between selftrackers through data sharing and communication around personal data. For public health, communal self-tracking has been explored for the additional benefits it provides in addition to self-knowledge. However, under-explored is the emotional entanglement of self-tracking and tracked activities, or the role of practitioners in the dynamic evolution of tracked practices. Qualitative, mixed methods data were collected from leisure-time runners in the SW England who self-track using social fitness app 'Strava', and were interpreted through the lens of practice theory. We find that communal self-tracking affords the active shaping of the emotion and purpose of running. This 'teleoaffective shaping' allows practitioners to negotiate and reconstitute appealing meanings associated with running to protect their practice loyalty. We identify three mechanisms for teleoaffective shaping afforded by Strava: labelling, reward and materialising effort. Findings advance our understanding of how social fitness apps work to retain practitioners of physically active leisure practices. Future research should further explore the multiple ways that associations with tracked physical activity evolve through entanglement with self-tracking practices.

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The mundane experience of everyday calorie trackers: Beyond the metaphor of Quantified Self

Cited by 74 publications

References 32 publications

Co-evolving with self-tracking technologies

Co-evolving with self-tracking technologies

Digital health – a new medical cosmology? The case of 23andMe online genetic testing platform

Changing emotional engagement with running through communal self‐tracking: the implications of ‘teleoaffective shaping’ for public health

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