Xenia Schmidli

This paper explores the possibilities of extension of the human being through technologies like wearable devices that are used to track physical activity. The goal is to give a possible conceptual framework to help analyse the relationship between human user and tracking device. The paper thus follows the extended mind theory according to Clark & Chalmers, and argues that tracking devices can be conceived as extensions of the mind. In this process, it will be shown how tracking devices can play a substantial role in users’ belief systems and thus influence their self-knowledge. This argument serves as a stepping stone for more research to be conducted on the human self and its interaction with digital technology.

This paper explores the possibilities of extension of the human being through technologies like wearable devices that are used to track physical activity. The goal is to give a possible conceptual framework to help analyse the relationship between human user and tracking device. The paper thus follows the extended mind theory according to Clark & Chalmers, and argues that tracking devices can be conceived as extensions of the mind. In this process, it will be shown how tracking devices can play a substantial role in users’ belief systems and thus influence their self-knowledge. This argument serves as a stepping stone for more research to be conducted on the human self and its interaction with digital technology.

With the growing popularity of self-tracking devices, it has been established that these technologies shape the experiences and meanings of the moving body. Despite the growing critical literature on self-tracking, few philosophical works focus on capturing the underlying experiential structures involved in the technologically mediated body. Taking our starting point in Leder’s ( 1990 ) account of bodily awareness and employing a combination of phenomenology and postphenomenology, our analysis outlines a new concept of _the digi-appearing body_. It describes how the body appears when mediated by digital self-tracking technology, and we identify three experiential dimensions of this digi-appearing body: reduction, externalisation and optimisation. We analyse these as possible variations of the digitally mediated bodily appearance, and informed by postphenomenological modes of questioning, we explore what is revealed and concealed when engaging in self-tracking and how digital devices transform the bodily awareness in non-neutral ways. Developing a deeper understanding of the digi-appearing body can be a step towards a reflective use of self-tracking technology.