„I am Monitoring so I am … Healthier.” The Consequences of the Dynamic Expansion of Health Self-Tracking Devices

Marta Makowska, Agnieszka Maj

Abstract


The article presents the issue, which is still little-known in Poland, and relates to monitoring one’s health using self-tracking applications and devices. Based on the narrative literature review, numerous positive and negative consequences of self-monitoring of health have been identified. It has been shown that the development of technology has had an impact on changing the understanding of the term “healthcare”, which now must take into account the fact that patients become experts of their bodies as they can measure different aspects of it. The article also discusses the concept of “self-tracking culture”, indicating that its actors are not only members of the Quantified Self social movement, but also doctors, health care institutions and even some employers. In the article the distinction between “voluntary” and “recommended” self-tracking is made. The sociological interpretations of the phenomenon of self-tracking were also presented. Finally, potential areas of sociological research concerning this phenomenon are shown.


Keywords


Self-tracking; Quantified Self; health; lifestyle; new technologies.

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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17951/ks.2019.7.2.5-17
Date of publication: 2020-11-19 19:44:12
Date of submission: 2020-06-08 00:32:12


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