‘I guess I was surprised by an app telling an adult they had to go to bed before half ten’: a phenomenological exploration of behavioural ‘nudges’

ABSTRACT

In recent years, the role of self-tracking technologies has been investigated, debated and critiqued within qualitative research circles. The principal means by which self-tracking technologies seek to promote health-related behaviours and behaviour change is through the use of ‘nudges’. Despite the increasing prevalence of nudge-style modes of body-mind governance, there remains little in-depth qualitative research on people’s embodied responses to this form of behavioural management. The current study sought to address this lacuna by drawing on a form of empirical, sociological phenomenology to investigate the lived experience of being ‘nudged’ by self-tracking technology. Our phenomenologically-inspired analysis revealed how nudges can be perceived as objectifying by rendering the user’s body the intentional object of awareness. Participants agentically engaged in a sense-making process, actively (re)interpreting the relevance of nudges and assessing critically the prescribed action in the context of their everyday life. Users expressed confidence in their own embodied sensory perceptions and assessment, and resisted having their bodily intuition displaced by ‘unbodied’ data.

KEYWORDS:

• Nudges
• self-tracking
• embodiment
• phenomenology of the body
• objectification

Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

John Toner

Dr. John Toner is a lecturer in sports coaching and performance science at the University of Hull, UK. His research interests include expertise, bodily awareness, and the phenomenology of skilled action.

Jacquelyn Allen-Collinson

Dr. Jacquelyn Allen-Collinson is Professor in Sociology and Physical Culture, and Director of the Health Advancement Research Team (HART), University of Lincoln, UK. Currently pursuing her interest in combining sociology and phenomenology, her research interests include the lived experience of health and illness conditions in sport and physical cultures, together with the sociology of the senses, identity and identity work.

Luke Jones

Dr. Luke Jones is a lecturer in sport coaching and performance at the University of Hull, UK. His research interests include problematizing entrenched coaching knowledge and practices.