What's The Point of Exercising If It Cannot Be Measured?" A Post-Phenomenological Analysis of Self-Tracking Devices

Abstract

This study investigates the effects of information supplied by selftracking technologies on the human-technology relationship through a postphenomenological approach. Self-tracking technologies, which have become increasingly popular among users since 2000, nowadays, provide biodata to individuals in many different areas from daily step count to heart rhythm or from sleep quality to symptom tracking. The first part of the paper revisits post-phenomenological approach that is a relatively new approach analyzing the human-technology relation. The empirical focus of the study is grounded on the motivation for applying self-tracking gadgets, perceptions of gathered data, potential changes in the conception of the self-knowledge through mediated data and its possible consequences. For the empirical research an open-text survey is conducted with 26 people who were users of a selftracking device. The findings suggest that self-tracking activity through wearable technology affects the perception of self-knowledge and preliminary results also indicate a dependency to measured data more than it is needed. The results contribute to a more nuanced understanding of adoption of the emerging wearable technology in daily life.