Day 1
Today was my first day back at home. Already, my watch connected to the GPS signals and could tell where I was. Apparently, I slept well in my bed at home. This image is a screenshot from the Garmin App. Today I discovered it tracks your movement every hour. I find that really creepy, and it is not something they advertise. I think it is good to bring awareness to the fact technology can do things you are unaware of.
Day 2
This is my second day back home. The data is very similar from yesterday. However, I ran in a different place. To protect your privacy, Garmin only records the county you run in. However, one can still see exactly where you run through the app. I think this feature may give users a false sense of security. The constant monitoring of my heart rate throughout the day is starting to creep me out.
Day 3
Today my resting heart rate was lower which is good, but I think it’s because I ran less. I like that the app can help me improve my recovery with the heart rate feature. One way you can take back technology is by not wearing or using it. I took my watch off to charge and I like that there is no recorded data.
Day 4
A cool thing I discovered today were the seasonal themed challenges on the app. I think that is fun and enticing. One thing that irritates me with the app is how slow it is to connect and upload data from my watch. I think it may be because of the amount of data my watch holds, which is again, creepy.
Day 5
I am starting to get freaked out about the steps and timing the app constantly records. By looking at this data, someone could find out when I am not home and rob my house. It is hard to weigh out the good and the bad with surveillance.
Day 6
Yesterday I went up to visit my friend in Pittsburgh so that threw off my sleep and running schedules. It may be good to have that variety so no one can constantly track you. A good privacy feature of the app is that unless I record an activity, it doesn’t display location. From this data, you can not tell I left home.
Day 7
Today was an interesting day. My watch did not connect to my phone’s bluetooth so a lot of the data is missing. I like that this is another way to control my data. Additionally, you can see I ran in a different area than usual. This is interesting because Herndon is a part of Fairfax County so the data is seemingly randomly more precise.
Quantified Self Reflection
My project followed my daily activities. I utilized a Garmin Forerunner watch (worn 24/7) as well as the Garmin Connect app. Initially, I tried to use the app Instant, but I found it far too invasive upon my data. Through the Garmin Connect app, I was able to gather data such as sleep, steps, activities, and heart rate. The data was displayed as totals as well as broken down hourly. Each day I synced my watch and took a screenshot of the previous day’s data. I reflected upon the data in my Data Diary. Tracking my daily data raised questions of privacy for me.
The quantified self is a relatively new term. It refers to self- knowledge through self- tracking (Quantified Self Institute). Due to technology innovations, many aspects of our lives can now be tracked, like sleep and heart rate. The quantified self creates a data double- you, but in data and numbers form. There are both positives and negatives to the quantified self. Positively, the quantified self allows for better health data. However, there are also many negatives. In Kathrin Rogella’s We Never Sleep the quantified self was created and the physical self faded away. The quantified self can take away joys in life. Additionally, the quantified self can allow for major governmental control, as seen in Juli Zeh’s The Method. The quantified self dehumanizes us. It is important to find value in the data, and not just let it take over our lives.
I utilized the Garmin Connect app to monitor my heart rate, activities, steps (including stairs), and activities such as recorded runs and walks. This data is useful to me as I am a runner and I like to look at my statistics to find ways to improve. The self observation also allowed me to think about privacy and security in relation to the app. I wanted to find out how much data would be available to others. It was also interesting to track my heart rate. It gave me insights to when I was stressed and when I was calm. Data like I collected allows me to have a better sense of self and change my habits. For example, if I notice I usually get stressed and my heart rate raises at a certain time, I can perform meditation or another stress relieving activity during that time period. Another aspect I get from my heart rate relates to my training. When my heart rate is over 180bpm, I know that I am pushing myself very hard. If it gets to near 200, I know I need to slow down or take a break. Personal data can be useful for many things in life.
The Garmin Connect app allows for a great creation of the quantified self. It is great for measuring values such as heart rate and sleep. It can even monitor your sleep cycles and analyze them for you. The app is great for connecting with other Garmin users. Your personal data is somewhat protected. It will disguise your activities by placing them in the broader category of county. However, it is still possible to discover one’s location. Another benefit of the app is the user privacy settings. One’s profile, activities and badges have the option to be visible to everyone, only friends, only friends and groups, or only oneself. A worry is the default setting is set to everyone.
My data is shared only with my friends on the app and Garmin itself. One concern I have is that my data may have been compromised when Garmin was hacked in July. The benefits of the app are that it allows me to connect with other users. I like to compete through the app with my uncle, who lives in another country. Another benefit is the choice in privacy settings. I also enjoy being able to monitor my daily progress such as steps and set step goals. The sleep feature is very useful for determining if I am well rested. Some drawbacks of the app are the minimal users of it. Another disadvantage is the outdated software. The app is very slow and the formatting is outdated. It could do with a major update as it has been the same for five years. Overall, I feel like my data is as secure as it can be for being on the internet.
In The Method, the citizens in the society all have a tracker. The main character, Mia has a chip “in the same place as everyone else’s, in the middle of the bicep” (Zeh 58). In a way, society has progressed to this today. Between smartwatches and smartphones, we are all being monitored constantly. In the news, you hear people worried about the COVID- 19 vaccine. They believe there will be “a chip to track people” (Tregde). It is strange people have not recognized we are already being constantly monitored. A great thing about this class is how it has drawn my attention to this. Additionally, the class has given me ways to reduce the surveillance on myself. I think those that are worried about the vaccine need to do more research into their devices and apps to realize they are already constantly tracked. The chip is self- implanted. The chip for the vaccines is not for government use and is located on the outside of the syringe. This way, “healthcare workers will have the option to tag it with their phone. That will allow them to upload a date, time and GPS location of each vaccination in real-time” (Tregde). The common theme is surveillance, whether it’s of you or a vaccine.
In our group, we discussed the different apps we used to collect data. Some of us used sleep apps, and some of us used the Apple Health app. The Health app and the Garmin Connect app are very similar. They both get the best data from having a compatible watch. One thing that stuck out to me in our conversations was how surprised we all were with how in depth statistics were measured. Ella talked about how her Health app tracked her speed when climbing stairs. It can be concerning how much data is being constantly collected. Other statistics like phone/ screen time usage allowed us to see how much of our life we are on devices. However, it is not all encompassing as laptop and TV time don’t get recorded. A benefit to using the watches is for us to record activities. I think that it helps me to stay more active, and I feel like people in my group would also agree.
Works Cited
Quantified Self Institute. “What is Quantified Self?” Quantified Self Institute, http://qsinstitute.com/about/what-is-quantified-self/. Accessed 2 December 2020.
Tregde, David. “Verify: COVID-19 vaccine syringes to have trackers on the outside, not in vaccine.” WUSA9, 16 July 2020, VERIFY: COVID-19 vaccine syringes to have trackers on the outside, not in vaccine. Accessed 7 December 2020.
Zeh, Juli. The Method. Harvill Secker, 2012.