L’amélioration de soi en régime numérique : les ambiguïtés du Quantified Self, entre discours et pratiques

Abstract

This article looks at the practices of quantified self to shed light on their ambiguities. These very diverse practices consist in using one or several applications on a smartphone or a connected object to quantify and measure an aspect of one’s life: number of steps taken per day, sports performance, health, etc. By mobilizing two fields of study composed of thirty comprehensive interviews with practitioners of quantified self as well as a thematic content analysis of messages sent on the MyFitnessPal forum (a calorie-tracking application), we will analyze how the transformation of daily activities into data presented as more objective can be a source of ambivalence for the individuals who engage in it. Following three empirical entries, this article will aim to show how the recording of ordinary experiences by digital devices can be a source of discrepancies between subjective representations and their digital transcriptions; how the sharing of these data on social networks and forums can be both a matter of experience sharing and participatory surveillance; and finally, to show how self-quantification by digital tools dialogues with the normative injunctions that users try to cope with.

Keywords

• quantified Self
• self-tracking
• digital practices
• datafication
• digital ambiguities.