The Quantified Self has its own blog (dog bites man) and just cannot believe the recent Pew Internet Life study [TTA 29 Jan] that unsurprisingly revealed, despite the explosive takeup of smartphones in the US, that most trackers are still using their heads (49 percent) or paper tracking (34 percent). So the two QS writers question the questions, and how potential QSers may not define ‘self-tracking’ as ‘fit(ting) neatly into health’. However, survey leader Suzannah Fox of Pew details the screener and specific questions–and being plain and straightforward, there’s not much wiggle room. How people interpret ‘tracking’ may be where the problem is–that long-term, over time tracking is a quite different pursuit than getting an immediate reading (e.g. blood glucose) to make a quick decision on what to eat and dose. (see Rajiv Mehta’s comment) The state of self-tracking
Updated 25 March Related: Laurie Orlov on Pew induces chest pains in the body of the health tech market and the low single digits of app participation over age 50. (Reinterpret this: 3% of those aged 50-64 and 1% of those aged 65+.)
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