Tracking Myself
I didn’t necessarily realize how often I self track myself until we started this section of the course. I have used period tracking apps for as long as I’ve had a smartphone and even at one time used on on my computer. I use P Tracker and that app allows you to track your cycle, fertile days, and allows you add all types of information that I didn’t even realize was in the app until class last Wednesday. I only use it to keep track of my cycle, so when I go to the doctor I have an exact answer instead of an estimate like I have had in the past. I just prefer to have some sure answers instead of estimations. I only input data in the app twice a month sometimes more often. The app itself asks for information about your moods and things that I hasn’t even realized. I don’t use any of these other features except intimate days. I don’t know what this app can do in the future more than it is already doing at the moment. I think it would be great if some of the other things that are suppose to make the app work better would fill in themselves because I don’t have the time everyday to add things into the app. This particular app does not post on to social media. I’m all for stopping the stigma of periods, but I don’t believe everyone needs to know when I’m menstruating. I think apps that post about your fitness are sometimes great when they post on social media, because it with some people holds them accountable and gives them praise about are accomplishing. I’m pretty sure everyone wants to be praised when they are doing something good for themselves. I know I enjoy feeling as though others recognize my effort in doing things. Especially like now where I’m working on weight loss. I feel like I’m being held accountable for what I should be doing. I don’t necessarily want to be praised for what I do, but I feel as though if someone else knows I can’t necessarily get out of exercising for that particular day. I’m held accountable, because I am very prone to giving up when I’m tired or just don’t feel like doing it for that day. I’ve very prone to stop. I feel like by putting things other there I’m less likely to stop and do things much better for myself.
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I think it’s really interesting that this app asks you to enter your moods. Especially in women our hormones really can affect our moods. It would be cool if the app could provide suggestions of things to do or vitamins to take based on our moods to even out our hormone levels. In relation to our class discussion, this is also an interesting app because it has to do with your medical history. It would be interesting to know who owns the app and who has access to the data you enter.
Kayla, thanks for this post and all your thoughts. I love that you mentioned that you did not even know about all the features that your period tracker app had before we showed that video in class! It is so crazy to me how invasive some of these applications on different technological devices can be–like they can request all this information about our very intimate lives and obtain huge amounts of data from whoever wants to put in their mood or hair texture or what-have-you.
You say that it would be cool if the app could suggest vitamins that may help alter our moods, but I wonder how much more invasive that might get. Say we purchased a suggested vitamin, or even just explore our options, because it popped up on the app… Well, then we would probably start getting advertisements on our other apps, like Facebook, for products similar to that vitamin. Data, data, data!