The Quantified Self: Caring or Controlling?

Abstract

Followers of the Quantified Self movement connect themselves to tracking devises that perform intensive quantitative measurements of their physical and mental functioning. The personally generated data is believed to enable individuals to effectively promote their well-being. The central question of this thesis is whether self-tracking is indeed a legitimate tool to promote one’s own well-being. The ambitions of the quantified self are criticised on the basis of Sumner’s theory of well-being as life-satisfaction that states that well informedness and autonomy are the fundamental conditions upon which individual’s well-being can be evaluated. It will be argued that quantitative measurements cannot give a comprehensive impression of individual’s well-being for it is only a partial representation. On the basis of Michel Foucault’s studies on technologies of the self and disciplining power it will be argued that self-tracking is not promoting self-governance but population control instead for tracking devices are a perfect means through which normalizing power is performed. In the end an alternative perspective is presented by reinventing Foucault’s care for the self and an appeal is made to individuals to be more critical and reflective towards their relation with self-tracking devices.