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The ‘Quantified Self’ is a thrilling prospect for some: Massive datasets about oneself can be a new route to self-discovery. But for most of us, the idea of continuous self-tracking is a novelty that results in shallow insights. Just ask anyone who has bought a Fitbit or Jawbone Up which now lies dusty at the bottom of a junk drawer.
For the Quantified Self movement to become truly useful, our gadgets will have to move beyond the novelty of gratuitous behavioral data, which we might call a ‘first degree of meaning.’ They’ll have to address a second degree of meaning, where self-tracking helps motivate people toward self-improvement, and a third degree of meaning, where people can use data to make better choices in the moments when a decision is actually being made. We’re moving closer to those goals, but we’re still not thinking rigorously about the challenges involved. So let’s start....
Wearable technology, the Internet of Things or the quantified self. Call it what you will, there are big challenges ahead for wearable technology.