The Quantified Self and Big Data

The quantified self, as explained by Virtuagym is: “self-knowledge through self-tracking. By measuring a variety of data about your personal life, you can identify patterns in your life. These patterns can be used to adjust and improve daily activities to accommodate a healthier lifestyle. It works on four levels: Input, Physical Health, Mental Health, and Performance”. Essentially, wearable technologies enable us to log information about our lives and lifestyles, making it easier for us to see the trends we are progressing in, good or bad. While this is an efficient and effective way for people to keep track of their activities, wearable digital technologies benefit companies and businesses as well. People who wear FitBits, Apple watches, or other forms of technology that are designed to store and measure personal data are often sharing this information with the company who created the product. This company, depending on their terms and conditions, may have the right to sell your data to other businesses who are aiming to target specific demographics. Your personal information, which, depending on the technology you use, can range from current weight, age, and blood pressure to more in depth data, like when you wake up, when you leave home or go to work. This portfolio is stored on a database where your statistics and engagements are reduced to simple numbers that can be sold to other businesses. 

A business that would benefit greatly from this data are health clubs and gyms. Virtuagym states that: ”A lot of health clubs work with self-management: their members go in, do their workouts, and go. By offering branded fitness apps and even by controlling the sales of wearables, gyms can create new revenue streams with both new and existing members, while simultaneously improving the quality of their services. Furthermore, these apps and wearables can function as the missing link between your members’ daily lives and your club. Extending your service beyond your club will have a positive effect on member loyalty, and lifetime value”. The idea that a member’s experience at a gym would be positively affected by the use of fitness apps and wearables is one that makes sense, but the overall lack of privacy is a risk that people should consider. When the company has access to your activities while you are at the gym and also while you are not, it means they are exercising, on some level, a type of dataveillance. They are surveilling the data being continuously logged onto your wearable technology, which is oftentimes more in-depth than users realize. If the gym notices that a large majority of their members are logging unhealthy foods into their apps, they may be able to sell this information to companies that specialize in health foods or drinks. This, in turn, may peak the interest of these companies who will then pay the gym for advertising space in an environment where they know they have access to a vulnerable target audience.