On Cyber Biosociality

I think that should one be inclined to compulsively self-monitor their health and fitness, there is no time like the present. The highly portable technologies that facilitate passive measurement – phones, watches, diet plans, exercise equipment – also facilitate active social media sharing. This is exactly the kind of biosociality – in a Rabinowian sense –  that I imagine to be “cyber.” While I am an active user of such technologies myself, I am conscious of the darker Foucauldian elements at work here as well, such that I think measurement  (of self or other) is a uniquely violent form of subject-making for at least three reasons.

First, it converts and correlates indefinite qualities into definite quantities – a reduction that can foster a tendency to seek simple solutions. It is the opposite of unpacking problems of indicators to explore context. This is true, cyber or not. Second, quantification tied to more than one person invites comparison, encourages surveillance, and – in cyber echo chambers – fosters dangerous misinterpretations of statistics. (I would argue that all statistics are dangerous, but that's another story.) It is in that ecosystem that “normal” and “abnormal” become spectres. Finally, the mere act of documentation or record-keeping has, in the past, justified White supremacy and colonialism by setting arbitrary, racialized standards and/or disarticulating the un/favorability of measurements and indicators from fuller, more explanatory contexts of political-economy.

On the other hand, I just bought an Apple Watch and I love it. I'm not convinced that compulsive self-monitoring is a bad thing, simply that we must be conscious of the ways that these technologies can be (have been!) picked up and repurposed.