Abstract
In this chapter we reflect on the role played by the agency of performative sensibility (PS) in the association between bodies and wearable technologies. We explore this particular form of algorithmic agency (PS) in bodies by mapping user experiences with wearable devices in Brazil. A total of 121 responses from a digital questionnaire were analyzed. The findings indicate that although these technologies are sustained by a discourse that values a healthy lifestyle, the behaviors acquired by the users suggest that the latter are motivated more by a desire to produce data for the system. The results also show that the data visualization interfaces support a narrative of “healthy” based on the amount of general “body movement.” We argue that PS acts as a “rhetorical communicational device” that translates the practice of physical activity by separating body performance from the context of the action.
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Notes
- 1.
Chapter 18 addresses the theme of mHealth.
- 2.
The search was performed on May 30, 2017, using the search terms “wearables” and its Portuguese translation vestíveis. This result, although based on a representative source, cannot be considered a comprehensive search of all Brazilian articles on the subject.
- 3.
During the data collection stage, an unstructured interview was held with the CEO of Carenet. At the time of writing, Carenet Longevity is the largest Brazilian company in the wearable technologies sector.
- 4.
The issue of health and Facebook is addressed in Chap. 9.
- 5.
The questionnaire used in the survey can be found at https://goo.gl/forms/jqVtkY8g9UsEQAqk1
- 6.
Xiaomi had a presence in Brazil between 2015 and 2016. However, Xiaomi wearables are no longer available locally and must be imported (Mari 2016).
- 7.
For Deleuze and Guattari (1989, 89), “just as there are asemiotic expressions, or expressions without signs, there are asemiological regimes of signs, asignifying signs, both on the strata and on the plane of consistency.” In this sense, “assemblages are necessary in order for the unity of composition enveloped in a stratum, the relations between a given stratum and the others, and the relation between these strata and the plane of consistency to be organized rather than random” (Deleuze and Guattari 1989, 92).
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Lemos, A., Bitencourt, E. (2019). “Move and Be Healthy!”: Performative Sensibility and Body Experiences Mediated by Wearable Devices in Brazil. In: Pereira Neto, A., Flynn, M. (eds) The Internet and Health in Brazil . Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99289-1_21
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