quantified self

English

Etymology

Popularized by Wired editors Gary Wolf and Kevin Kelly in 2007.

Noun

the quantified self (uncountable)

1. A movement to promote the constant tracking of one's physical activity, diet, and other personal metrics in order to gain insights for self-improvement; the practice itself.

   Synonym: QS

   • 2013 March 27, Chris Hollindale, “Nike+ FuelBand and Google Glass: what next for the 'quantified self'?”, in The Guardian‎^[1], retrieved 2022-05-10:

     The quantified self movement—the idea that tracking metrics about yourself can lead to self-improvement—appears to be gathering steam.

   • 2013 September 19, Stuart Dredge, quoting Sampo Karjalainen, “After 2.5m iPhone downloads, activity-tracking app Moves comes to Android”, in The Guardian‎^[2]:

     “We wanted to make a mainstream product for people who are not that into sports or the quantified self,” he says.

   • 2014, Anna Poletti, Julie Rak, editors, Identity Technologies: Constructing the Self Online, University of Wisconsin Pres, →ISBN, page 88:

     The quantified self, then, is more than a practice of self-monitoring; it suggests a shift to sharing such information for collectivized profiles of groups that serve as authorities on themselves.

   • 2020, Phil Jones, Bodies, Technologies and Methods‎^[3], Routledge, →ISBN:

     As Nafus (2016) points out, at the heart of the quantified self is an understanding of the individual as being ultimately responsible for taking control of their lives. This type of belief lends itself to neoliberal fantasy, ignoring how governments, corporations and others dictate the framework in which we live.

See also

• lifelogging

Further reading

• quantified self on Wikipedia.Wikipedia