Toward an Epistemology and Phenomenology of 'Self-Tracking': Preliminary Steps

Members of a growing movement called 'The Quantified Self' strive to track and monitor a broad array of parameters within their own body and their life over time, such as sleeping patterns, blood pressure, calorie intake, happiness, et cetera. This is made possible by the emergence of diverse affordable and personal 'self-tracking' technologies, that enable the easy collection and storage of all this data. In this paper we study these technologies as media, and the attending activity of self-tracking as a potentially game-changing way of making sense of the world, phenomenologically speaking.