Creating 'automatic subjects': Corporate wellness and self-tracking.

Creating 'automatic subjects': Corporate wellness and self-tracking.

Till, Christopher;
health (london, england : 1997) 2019 Vol. 23 pp. 418-435
249
till2019creatinghealth

Abstract

The use of self-tracking devices has increased dramatically in recent years with enthusiasm from the public as well as public health officers, healthcare providers and workplaces seeking to instigate behaviour change in populations. Analysis of the ontological principles informing the design and implementation of the Apple Watch and corporate wellness programmes using self-tracking technologies shows that their primary focus is on the capture and control of attention rather than material health outcomes. Health, wellness and happiness have been conflated with productivity, which is now deemed to be dependent on the harnessing of libidinal as well as physical energy. In this context, self-tracking technologies and related corporate wellness interventions have been informed by 'emotional design', neuroscientific and behavioural principles which target the 'pre subjective' consciousness of individuals through manipulating their habits and neurological functioning. This article draws on the work of Bernard Stiegler to suggest framing self-tracking as 'industrial temporal objects', which capture and 'short circuit' attention. It is proposed that a central aim is to 'accumulate the consciousnesses' of subjects consistent with the methods of a contemporary 'attention economy'. This new logic of accumulation informs the behaviour change strategies of designers of self-tracking devices, and corporate wellness initiatives, taking the form of 'psychotechnologies' which attempt to reconstruct active subjects as automatic and reactive 'nodes' as part of managed networks.

Citation

ID: 14657
Ref Key: till2019creatinghealth
Use this key to autocite in SciMatic or Thesis Manager

References

Blockchain Verification

Account:
NFT Contract Address:
0x95644003c57E6F55A65596E3D9Eac6813e3566dA
Article ID:
14657
Unique Identifier:
10.1177/1363459319829957
Network:
Scimatic Chain (ID: 481)
Loading...
Blockchain Readiness Checklist
Authors
Abstract
Journal Name
Year
Title
5/5
Creates 1,000,000 NFT tokens for this article
Token Features:
  • ERC-1155 Standard NFT
  • 1 Million Supply per Article
  • Transferable via MetaMask
  • Permanent Blockchain Record
Blockchain QR Code
Scan with Saymatik Web3.0 Wallet

Saymatik Web3.0 Wallet