Wearable Technology and the Subjugation of Its Users
Do tracking devices such as the Apple Watch pose a greater impact to people and their self perception than initially intended? Are Apple Watches reshaping social interaction as we know it?
The Emergence of Self-Tracking Devices
Before there were attachable trackers and wearable devices people could only monitor their personal health through subjective interpretation. The only reliable way to get a hold of quantifiable information on heart activity, blood pressure, risk of seizures and stress levels was through medical professionals. In regards to a person’s health, self-tracking during the late 19th century was limited to technologies like the weight scale. According to Crawford et al. “In 1885, the public ‘penny scale’ was first invented in Germany, and shortly after began appearing in the United States in grocery and drug stores.” This revelation reflected the new concept of health tracking in the public space rather than just the private space of a doctors office. Eventually these devices once again found their way into the private space after people began to feel conscious of having their weight being displayed for all to see. During the 1920s a smaller more affordable version of the weight scale was introduced to the home setting and it became known as the domestic weight scale. The information people once gathered just to know for their own benefit began to shift into being a tool to judge one another with. Instead of simply being a piece of data it became a number by which people would decide your potential for “improvement” and perceived beauty. Eventually self-tracking adopted a new purpose aside from weight management, and it turned into a way of measuring a person’s value and self worth. This concept continues to be relevant to this day with the new and innovative self-tracking devices that flood the market.
The first advanced wearable self-tracking device that was made available for purchase, according to Crawford et al., was the FitBit Classic in 2008. This invention resembled “a small, clip-like device,” that allowed users to track their steps, calories, activity and sleep patterns in an attempt to provide the consumer the information necessary to manage their activities and behavior in order to achieve a healthier lifestyle. In 2013 FitBit introduced a newer model called the “FitBit Flex” which was the first of many self-tracking wristbands to hit the market like the “Jawbone UP,” “Nike+’s FuelBandSE,” “Withing’s Pulse,” and “Microsoft’s Band” (Crawford et al. 484). These devices have redefined the meaning of self-tracking and they have created a new forum for people to interact with one another through sharing their findings.
What Self-Tracking Means From a Societal Perspective
The Quantified Self: Data Gone Wild?
Many individuals who utilize this technology not only find benefits to their own value of self-discovery, but they find themselves forming relationships with others who share their interest in gathering and analyzing personal data for self improvement. This concept has even grown into a phenomenon called “the Quantified Self” movement where members are dedicated to self tracking with the intent of taking a “proactive stance toward obtaining information and acting on it,” (Crawford et. al 484). Although this movement can have its advantages for users it also poses ways in which individuals can easily fall subject to the intense compare culture that seemingly dictates health related social media sites/pages. Before people had access to the overwhelming amount of information achieved through self-tracking devices there were only subjective ways to compare people and their health or appearance. But now that people have this information at their disposal they could be giving people more ammunition to criticize them with. Just because we have more ways of evaluating ourselves, specifically our bodies, doesn’t necessarily mean that we can only benefit from this knowledge like these companies want us to think. This also creates the mentality that people who “know themselves better” are inherently better than those who do not, and it encourages the idea people need these devices in order to achieve this elevated version of themselves.
It is easy to see that the desire for self-knowledge and self improvement through self-tracking technology is a profitable enterprise that many people are willing to invest in. But when taking a closer look one can also identify the ways in which this shift from the scale to wearable technology has reinvented the relationship between manufacturers and consumers. “there is data flowing between devices, consumers, companies, institutions, social networks and back again,” rather than simply from the producer to the consumer (Crawford et. al 480). To summarize, self-tracking has evolved into yet another way people can engage in mass communication just like the invention of Web 2.0.
Is Wearable Technology Defeating Its Own Purpose?
In this piece I will be highlighting my case study on how different health and wellness applications offered by the Apple Watch can, in turn, negatively affect people’s daily lives. The Apple Watch is known for being yet another luxurious piece of technology that claims to help people achieve self improvement through tracking features. Consumers are meant to be intrigued by the idea of being able to understand their bodies better by being able to collect and record information that they would otherwise be unable to obtain by themselves.
Despite the fact that self-tracking devices offer a range of services and opportunities, evidence suggests that they are achieving the opposite of their intended effect on people by pushing them away. Even though self-tracking devices provide people with the means to learn more about their personal fitness and health there are problems that arise in spite of their seemingly genuine intentions. Obviously the idea of being healthy and informed is appealing to just about everyone, but having another form of personal information at risk of being manipulated and monetized for profit is concerning. There is also cause for concern with the impact these devices create especially when it comes to one’s self esteem and sense of pride and achievement. When a person’s accomplishments and abilities are defined solely by quantified data they are going to lose their own sense of self worth and define themselves strictly by numbers. As a result people are often left disappointed, discouraged and hopeless. Finally, one of the age old arguments revolved around technology is that it is pushing people farther apart and making us less connected rather than closer together. Apple watches and other self-tracking devices are no stranger to this debate, they claim to be tools that help people be more active and informed through devices that stay on you at all times. However they appear to be struggling to elicit this feeling for everyone.
Convenience Or Control, It’s Our Choice
One of the major concerns revolved around self-tracking technology includes privacy issues and the vulnerability of personal data profiles that are recorded by these devices. Apple Watches are renounded as being computers reduced to small screens that can fit comfortably on a person’s wrist. These computers have the capability to track a person’s health and fitness history, location, credit/debit card use and other bits of information depending on the applications the user decides to download. Even though people may not consider a lot of this data to be sensitive information third party entities can draw a great deal from something as simple as a person’s travel habits or their purchase history. Take the “Health” application for instance, every Iphone user has the “Health” application automatically downloaded on their phone and it can track exercise history, heart rate, calories, steps, and it allows users to upload medical records and profiles with a touch of a button. At first one might think this application would make life easier and more convenient, however what these companies fail to mention is that “This data — which provides priceless insight to marketers, advertisers, retailers, insurers, employers, financial service providers, and social contacts — is stored within vulnerable network systems, the security of which is largely, if not entirely, unregulated,” (Arrow, 615). Self-tracking is intended to allow people to store the information they gather into their own personal files, but it is when that information is made available publicly there can be consequences.
People often dismiss privacy concerns because of the mentality that they have nothing to hide and the information they share publicly can’t possibly be used against them if they dictate it. Daniel Solove asserts that “… the problem with the nothing-to-hide argument is the underlying assumption that privacy is about hiding bad things. By accepting this assumption, we concede far too much ground and invite an unproductive discussion about information that people would very likely want to hide.” Even though a person may think they have nothing to hide there must be boundaries between what information is truly private and what isn’t. Since the Apple Watch can be synced directly to the user’s Iphone any information that they record on either device is stored together on their iCloud account leaving any and all records vulnerable to manipulation for profit. It is not possible for any person to be willing to have everything about them publicised and people must understand that in order to take more initiative in maintaining control on what they wish to keep private. Privacy is a right, and a person’s health and wellness is not something that they should feel obligated to share because it can be as sensitive as “past disease history, sexual behaviours, family history, or a hereditary disease(s),” that can be taken advantage of (Hsu).
The Apple Watch: All Work No Play
Another common issue associated with wearable technology like the Apple Watch is its tendency to create a heavy dependence on it even in leisure activities. This may not seem like a problem to some people because they may consider this technology to be a source of enlightenment in their lives and that it makes everything easier. However, when that dependency becomes an unhealthy obsession that serves as the only way to validate ourselves and everything we do then it becomes a problem. The more we integrate this technology into our daily lives the more we depend on it to achieve that sense of accomplishment. This creates the idea that we need these devices to track every aspect of our lives and therefore blurs the line between doing something because we want to or doing it because we have to. “… the repetition of input and the constant vibration on the wrist can be a labour of attention, the demand for interaction ceases to feel like play (as the colourful candy-like widgets might suggest it should be), and increasingly comes to resemble work,” (Clancy, 2017).
Our lives are being reduced to numbers and statistics, and measurable data seems to be all that matters anymore. Just because we can get this information doesn’t mean it will serve to help us like so many people assume it will. Couldry and Mejias assert that “ …technological transformation does not change human life by merely existing. Technologies work, and have consequences for human life, only by being woven into what people do, where they find meaning, and how their lives are interdependent.” What people do with this information is all that really matters: if they track how many steps they have taken on a particular day or how many calories they burned during exercise simply to fulfill their own desire to know that is healthy. It becomes an issue when a person tracks every aspect of their life with the expectation that this information defines who you are and reduces your sense of self determination. You do not need these devices to quantify yourself into yet another category to compare to other people. There is a point at which these devices become counterproductive and addicting to users and that essentially defeats the overall aim of self improvement.
The Smarter, Stylish Self-Improved Facade
The Apple Watch promises consumers that with this technology anyone can achieve that better version of themselves that they have always wanted, in fact their slogan reads: “There’s a better you in you.” Apple has set high expectations about this product and people are often left disappointed in its inability to deliver on these promises because they are just too unrealistic. They try to convince consumers that with the Apple Watch you will be smarter, more connected and your life will change for the better, but that is just wishful thinking. Wearable devices offer users access to the internet with a slight touch of a finger, and they are literally attached to you throughout the day making them seem extremely useful and efficient. Only there are people who will complain that rather than feeling connected and productive they find themselves “reaching for the mute button, longing to be disconnected, and fed up with all the notifications interrupting us. That’s when the novelty effect wears off,” according to Michael Katina. Obviously Apple wants to promote their product as being this magical device that can help someone turn their life around because they are in it for the money. What users do with Apple’s products is of no concern to them regardless of the fact that they may be encouraging internet addiction and the implications it can have on a person. Even though the developers of the Apple Watch may genuinely hope that the product encourages people to enhance their lives, there are still going to be people who find it fails to meet their expectations.
Technology at its core is supposed to be a tool by which people connect and promote the pursuit of knowledge, but as we all know that is not always the case. For many people it has evolved into one big distraction that seemingly drains their energy and has essentially become a chore. Similarly the Apple Watch was supposed to take away from that incessant need to check your phone and reduce a person’s screen time so they can be more focused on being present. Unfortunately these expectations are also overly optimistic because according to Paterson “When users pair the new Apple Watch with their iPhone, they are offered the same apps on the new device as they have installed on the phone. The watch apps are installed by default with notifications turned on to full blast.” This then prompts users to become overly frustrated with the overload of interruptions eventually leading them to turn off all but a few notifications. There is no such thing as a perfect piece of technology, people will always find something wrong with one aspect of it one way or another. It is however what we as consumers make of it and we determine how it is used and understood in society. Because whether we like it or not technology is an integral part of our lives now especially in a time where people depend on social media as their primary source of interaction.
How Self-Tracking Technology & the Apple Watch are Being Talked About Today
Three Intersecting Trends Enabling Self-Tracking
As self-tracking has advanced throughout the years, since the introduction of wearable devices, so has its impact on social media and how people connect online. Sometimes people find companionship and communities in which they feel acknowledged when connecting on these sites. But there is also the chance that “users of self-tracking communities who view the aggregated data from other users as a benchmark for their own progress may be either overly optimistic or overly pessimistic about their own progress if the aggregated data is systematically biased in a particular direction,” (Paton et al., 2012). People tend to look at themselves in a negative light when comparing themselves to others whether it be in terms of self-tracking or something else. And to make matters worse these people are often setting themselves up for failure because they are comparing themselves to individuals who may have been self-tracking for a longer period of time. This causes people to set unusually high expectations for themselves and can in turn negatively affect their motivation and accomplishments.
On a more positive note self-tracking shows potential for bettering the lives of those who are unknowingly suffering from heart diseases. As the technology continues to improve its measuring abilities we are moving closer to having access to a product that can detect unusual heart rates which has the potential to save lives. According to Park “… about 1–2% of adults in the U.S. suffer from atrial fibrillation, or abnormal beating of the heart, and don’t know it,” this is concerning because more often than not people will not seek medical help until they show symptoms and by that point it will have progressed and procedures will be more costly and risky. “The Apple Watch — and other continuous heart rate monitors from companies like FitBit — still have a long way to go before they can diagnose a heart condition,” even though there must be more research in the development of life-saving capabilities such as this, it is still a step in the right direction.
Why doctors are worried about the Apple Watch EKG
Conclusion
Overall the Apple Watch has countless features and abilities that make it appealing to consumers, it makes promises and provides users the opportunity to track information they may not have been able to collect on their own. The question that still remains though is: do the benefits outweigh the drawbacks? This cannot be easily answered because it depends on who you ask because everyone uses technology differently based on their personal needs. In the end self-tracking has the potential to enhance people’s lives positively but there are so many variables that factor into that process that it is unreasonable to expect so much from the technology itself. Society has a strong impact on the way we perceive ourselves and how we “should” be and that can have devastating consequences on the life choices we make as a result. We make our own decisions but the technology provides us with the tools needed to turn those goals into a reality. It is up to us to take control of our own lives and what our technology can do for us. It is easy to be complacent when it comes to our privacy, but that does not help us establish boundaries and protect our rights. We as citizens of a society that values our rights and our worth as individuals are responsible to challenge things we disagree with and fight for what we believe in. It is pointless to solely blame the technology for our problems, especially considering people are the ones who designed it in the first place.
Works Cited
Arrow, Grant. “Apple Watch-ing You: Why Wearable Technology Should be Federally Regulated.” Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review, vol. 49, 2016, pp. 607–633
Couldry, Nick, and Ulises Ali Mejias. “The Costs of Connection: How Data Is Colonizing Human Life and Appropriating It for Capitalism.” Stanford University Press, 2019.
Crawford, Kate, et al. “Our Metrics, Ourselves: A Hundred Years of Self-Tracking from the Weight Scale to the Wrist Wearable Device.” European Journal of Cultural Studies, vol. 18, no. 4–5, 2015, pp. 479–496., doi:10.1177/1367549415584857.
Hsu, Hui-Mei, “Does Privacy Threat Matter In Mobile Health Service? From a Health Belief Model Perspective.” (2016). Pacific Asia Conference on Information Systems 2016 Proceedings. 65.
Katina Michael; M. G. Michael, 2015, “Apple Watch Temptation: Just visit the App Store.” IEEE Consumer Electronics Magazine, Vol. 4, №4, pp. 120–122.
Park, Alice. “How the Apple Watch Could Change How We Treat Heart Disease.” Time, Time, 12 Sept. 2017, time.com/4938488/apple-watch-continuous-heart-rate-monitor/.
Paton, C, et al. “Self-Tracking, Social Media and Personal Health Records for Patient Empowered Self-Care. Contribution of the IMIA Social Media Working Group.” Yearbook of Medical Informatics, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2012, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22890336.
Solove, Daniel J. “Why Privacy Matters Even If You Have ‘Nothing to Hide’.” Chronicle.com, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 15 May 2011, www.chronicle.com/article/Why-Privacy-Matters-Even-if/127461/.
Patterson, Steven Max. “The Apple Watch’s Cure for Notification Overload? More Notifications.” Network World, Network World, 10 Apr. 2015, www.networkworld.com/article/2908827/the-apple-watchs-cure-for-notification-overload-more-notifications.html.
Wilmott, Clancy, et al. “‘I Am He. I Am He. Siri Rules’: Work and Play with the Apple Watch.” European Journal of Cultural Studies, vol. 21, no. 1, 2017, pp. 78–95., doi:10.1177/1367549417705605.
