When we quantify ourselves, what does that mean for how we see our bodies?
Self-tracking tech can be useful, but Linda Stone says it’s also punishing, because it overlooks the kind of embodied ‘presence’ that is the essential self.
Tracking our essential self
Linda Stone is a writer, researcher and consultant and a former executive with Apple, and with Microsoft. She looks at the way our relationship to technology affects our relationship to our bodies, and how we might improve that. Specifically, how we might use technologies to live in a more embodied way.
Stone thinks self-tracking tech can be useful, but it's also punishing, because it overlooks the kind of embodied 'presence' that is the essential self. Beyond losing weight or enjoying your food or remembering to get up from the computer, Linda thinks we need to address that whole, feeling of self, what she calls "The Essential Self." And she thinks we can use technology to help us do it.