Quantified Self benefits

Hi all,

I am extremely boggled by this idea of the “quantified self” as I have been looking for hours and hours on the internet for sufficient amount of scientific evidence to demonstrate the beneficial effects of becoming a quantified selfer. In addition, what are the theories that underlie the beneficial effects? I would appreciate if you were able to provide links to articles and provide your personal views? :slight_smile:

“Quantified Self” isn’t a specific intervention, but the belief that you need to collect some data in order to see if an intervention is having the desired effect, and that what works for one person might not work for another.

Do people who want to lose weight and weigh themselves lose more weight? Does wearing a step counter make people more active, and how effective are badges and other incentives? These questions are surprisingly hard to answer at the population level, but that doesn’t mean you can’t find out what works for you :slight_smile:

Re: scientific proof, you may want to check out http://blog.sethroberts.net/, and his paper here: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15595236



Thanks guys I appreciate that… However does anyone have a good explanation regarding how self explanation links to quantified control ? Also are there any good papers that give a general outline of the pros and cons of quantifying many aspects of your life . Really appreciate all the help !!


I seeeeeee !!! This is really helpful and has made things a lot clearer !! Thank you !!


Thanks guys I appreciate that… However does anyone have a good explanation regarding how self explanation links to being a quantified selfer** ? Also are there any good papers that give a general outline of the pros and cons of quantifying many aspects of your life . Really appreciate all the help !!

Sounds like you need a Quantified Coach :slight_smile:

This is my first post, based on my discovery of this site and these groups. I was in the middle of trying to figure out a way to quantify my self for my own mood tracking. After reading many of the posts, I am wondering if the process of quantifying one’s self is actually a motivator, an inhibitor, or a distraction from working through situations and their effect on one’s mood. Seeing this site and mass of information is exciting and makes me ‘feel’ energized about the act of tracking myself and possibly getting some answers to questions about myself. However, I can foresee spending so much time on the process that I never get to the end goal, of really determining my mood rhythms and affects, and finding a way to work on improving my mood.

Is this a typical response to the concept of the quantified self? Am I just ‘feeling’ overwhelmed?

Some minimal tracking can be useful, no need to go all out.

There’s an entire subforum here for tracking mood, may be worth reading through it and then posting that question there: https://forum.quantifiedself.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=25