From measuring to feeling
meanings and affects in digital self-tracking of physical exercise
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.22456/1982-8918.148846Keywords:
Digital technology, Wearable electronic devices, Physiological monitoring, Physical EducationAbstract
This article investigates digital self-tracking of physical exercise (DSTPE) from a socio-material perspective, aiming to map the emerging affects and the meanings associated with and attributed by self-trackers. The qualitative research involved 34 wearable device users, with data produced through observation in training spaces, analysis of digital platforms (Strava/Garmin Connect), and electronic questionnaires, analyzed via ATLAS.ti using the General Inductive Approach. The results highlight that DSTPE assumes multiple meanings: motivation for sports practice, engagement with goals and challenges, emotional impacts, risk of obsessive behaviors, frustration with data manipulation, intolerance to technical failures, competition (with self and others), curiosity about new monitoring modalities, interest in specific body metrics, and adaptation of training routines. The study demonstrates how technologies and bodies co-produce these affects, reinforcing the hybrid nature of contemporary self-tracking practices.
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