Americans, fascinated by and fearful of all that data analysis might do for corporations and governments, have been analyzing data about themselves in ever increasing numbers. Although the term “quantified self” was coined as recently as 2008 by two editors at Wired magazine, the practice of collecting, sharing, and analyzing data about oneself in order to improve one’s life has been around for a long time. One might even call it a quintessentially American practice: in his autobiography Benjamin Franklin describes his method for tracking 13 virtues and says "I was surprised to find myself so much fuller of faults than I had imagined, but I had the satisfaction of seeing them diminish” (qtd in Hill). Franklin, like today’s quantified selfers, believed that having information about our habits would improve them.
One of the first recommendations given by those who coach others to lose weight, improve health, save money, or be more efficient is to track it. If you want to lose weight, most nutritionists and dieticians would have you track what you eat and calculate the calories you take in (some support groups like weight watchers have you count “points” but the idea is the same). Trainers encourage people to track their exercise habits and progress; financial advisors from Suze Orman to Dave Ramsey ask people to track their spending. Advocates of time boxing strategies like the pomodoro technique encourage people to divide work time into shorter sessions that they then devote to specific tasks and then track the number sessions it takes to complete the task and the number of distractions of different types they experienced in each session. This process is meant to help people notice and control their focus and to become better at estimating how long it will take them to complete a given task.
Certainly there are many situations in which a rich data set about oneself does help people change habits which lead to improved health or financial stability. One striking example of a quantified selfer whose tracking practices led to substantial improvements in health and quality of life is Dan Hon, a type II diabetic who describes in detail his tracking practices which led him from an %HbA1c of 12.2% (dangerously high) to an %HbA1c of 7.7 after 3 months (significantly improved but still concerning) and an %HbA1c of 5.4% after six months (a non-diabetic measure). Writing on his blog, Hon summraized his story this way:
In conclusion: My doctor gave me some bad news, I decided I didn’t believe him, I lost a tonne of weight and I feel awesome. Data saved my life.
There is no question that tracking exercise and blood glucose levels can help people with diabetes take some measure of control over the disease. One can see how tracking might help improve aspects of their lives. As Lumo back (creators of an activity tracking app) explains on their product website:
The technology involved in the Quantified Self movement empowers people with heightened self-awareness and supports us as we strive to be the best possible versions of ourselves. Collecting data about ourselves allows us to make informed decisions about our daily behavior.
This sounds so promising--and so civilized and rational. Who would want to understand themselves better? Who wouldn’t want to have information that would help them make better choices? But this quotation gives us two reasons to pause in our zeal before joining the quantified self movement: (1) Corporate interests in QS and (2) the cool cerebral approach that puts pragmatism first.
Corporate interests in QS
The economic interests in the previous quotation were sublte; one had to realize the web page titled “Demystifying the quantified self” is a company's website created to promote a qs tracking device. While we might grant that having a page explaining why the device they sell is necessary for this company, it is hard not to also recognize the way that is presented in a way that is deceptive. In this next example, the corporate connection is part of the point being made by Mark Moschel on Technori, a platform with information for start up companies that provides articles and “guides” on a range of topics of potential interest to people who want to start a business.
As a self-quantifier, I see the potential to control my own health and to modify my behaviors to optimize the length and quality of my life. As an entrepreneur, I see a revolution of the healthcare industry. Soon, technology will be spotting trends and diagnosing problems far quicker and more accurately than doctors.
As data from people around the world are aggregated, explored, and decoded into bits of knowledge, imagine the discoveries that become possible, the mysteries of the human experience that can be solved. With hands at our sides and eyes open, our world becomes that much brighter.
As data from people around the world are aggregated, explored, and decoded into bits of knowledge, imagine the discoveries that become possible, the mysteries of the human experience that can be solved. With hands at our sides and eyes open, our world becomes that much brighter.
Insights from people’s aggregated data sounds innocent enough -- and directed toward a greater good, but of course there are also insights to be gleaned about individuals (that is why all the quantified selfers start this after all). The companies creating all of these tracking devices and apps then own your data and can do with it what they like. As Michael Carney explained in his recent post on PandoDaily (a site devoted to news about start up companies),
As we document and share more of where we go, what we do, who we spend time with, what we eat, what we buy, how hard we exert ourselves, and so on, we create more data that companies can and will use to evaluate our worthiness – or lack thereof – for their products, services, and opportunities. For those of us who don’t measure up compared to the rest of the population, the outcome won’t be pretty.
Carney goes on to suggest ways our data might be used against us by insurance companies (higher rates) and employers, and to quote from the terms of agreement of many of the most popular QS devices, reading that might well cool your enthusiasm for all things QS.
Pragmatism over joy
Returning to the quotation for Lumo back, in which we “strive to be the best possible versions of ourselves” and “make informed decisions about our daily behavior,” I simply wish to point out that all that tracking seems to interfere with joi de vivre. Indeed, in a Wired magazine article by Gary Wolf, one of the coiners of the term quantified self, talks about Getting Things done, David Allen’s system for increasing productivity by tracking the “stuff” as related to Taylorism:
Workers hated Taylorism, especially when it was implemented through brutal piece-rates and a general reduction of wages. But Taylor's emphasis on breaking down everything into small steps, and his prediction that a choreography of work could lead to previously unimaginable efficiency, formed the basis of a hundred years of managerial high hopes.
One of Taylor's most controversial proposals was that labor and analysis should be strictly divided. The boss plans, and the hired man executes. Workers who don't need to think ahead can go faster, while observant managers benefit from unfettered clarity. One way to understand Getting Things Done is to see it as Taylorism for knowledge workers, those poor — or privileged — souls who must handle both sides of this equation in the same consciousness. The boss is nowhere in sight, and yet the demands never cease. As ever-more complicated communication networks both extend our reach and hem us in, Allen's strict routines supply exact instructions on how to manage ourselves.
In a sense, when we read back the data we generate, we find it supplies instructions on how we ought to manage ourselves. Do we want to turn the management of ourselves over to these company that measures our data? This part of the problem is reminiscent of the world described in radiohead’s “Fitter, happier, more productive”.
