Digital fitness: Self-monitored fitness and the commodification of movement
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Date
2015
Authors
Brabazon, Tara
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
RMIT Publishing
Rights
Copyright © 2015 (Tara Brabazon).
Rights Holder
Tara Brabazon
Abstract
This article moves beyond a history of domestic home video fitness programs to explore digital fitness with specific attention to the self-monitored fitness 'movement' and the hardware and software that facilitate its proliferation. The research in this area is currently conducted through preliminary small scale studies, alongside some flawed but still (inadvertently) useful undergraduate and graduate projects. Popular cultural interest is burgeoning, with the popularity of the Fitbit suite and the iWatch surging through an array of commentaries on blogs, YouTube videos, tweets and Facebook posts. This theoretical paper links digitisation with fitness to explore the balance between self-monitoring and surveillance, motivation and shaming. The Fitbit is an example of this self-monitored fitness 'movement' that reveals the ambivalence of quantifying steps and stairs while managing a volatile neoliberal working environment.
Description
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs (CC BY_ND) Licence. For information on use, visit www.creativecommons.org/licenses.
Keywords
home video fitness programs, fitness, Self-monitored fitness, Fitbit, iWatch, shaming, quantified self, commodified self,, self-surveillance
Citation
Brabazon, T. (2015). Digital fitness: Self-monitored fitness and the commodification of movement. Communication, Politics & Culture, 48(2), 1.