Lifelogging – Consequences Of Tracking The Self and Transforming It Into a Digital Self

Today life data is archived and presented publicly in networked digital media. The term “lifelogging” subsumes digital media systems that document, as comprehensively as possible, traces of human behaviour and put them into long-term storage. Four types of lifelogging can be distinguished: 1. Health Monitoring, 2. Human Tracking, 3. Digital Memory and 4. Sousveillance. Lifelogging is a marked attempt to break the boundaries of human existence by means of digital media. According to the most prominent advocates in this field it demonstrates the increasing belief in numbers and data and therefore could be called a neo-empiristic movement.

However, the complete recording of one’s life brings up new questions about personal information management and emerging inequalities. Cases studies of methodological, epistemological and social aspects of lifelogging already show fundamental concerns about the relationship between one’s own life and the data set created by lifelogs. Critics warn that people using lifelogging and producing large amounts of information become unwitting subjects of surveillance.

The critical discussion of lifelogging refers to the theory of “shifting baselines”. Three main shifts have to be considered: 1. From subject to object (loss of individualism). 2. From action to function (loss of autonomy or agency). 3. From privacy to post-privacy.

‘Technoapartheit’, ‘over-diagnosis’, the standardisation of human behaviour, the emergence of new social norms and the shame punishment of deviant people are examples of new inequalities caused by extensive lifelogging. Against a background of research projects on media of the future and empirical data, this paper discusses lifelogging as a controversial issue, focusing on the role of recently developed digital devices. Even if related developments in the area of lifelogging are not yet in the public domain, important questions about shifting boundaries are emerging and need to be discussed.