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Moritz Meister, MSc
| Titel | Mood Tracking Apps as Technologies of the Self |
| Untertitel | EQuiP 2026 Lyon |
| Typ | Konferenz |
| Texte | Abstract: In our presentation, we revisit Foucault’s concept of 'Technologies of the Self' and aim to make it empirically productive in relation to a recent digital media phenomenon, mood tracking apps. Mood tracking is one of their most common features of mental health apps. It encompasses the practice of regularly documenting one's affective state using a set of pre-defined emotion categories. Over time, these are compiled into statistics and graphs that supposedly represent one's 'emotional self'. Drawing on Foucault's late oeuvre, we discuss the concept of 'Technologies of the Self' in this context. This analytical term comprises affective experience, technological/media devices and discursive norms, which altogether create specific forms of self-thematization and reflection. Such private self-relational practices are socio-historically contingent and permeated by power relations. Foucault’s empirical material to examine this consisted of the self-related practices of the ancient world – where media forms such as diary writing already played a central role. We now apply this analytical concept to contemporary capitalist culture and pose two research questions: 1) What forms of self-relation are implied by mood tracking apps? 2) How do actual users appropriate and practice these forms? Drawing on a rich corpus of qualitative data (autoethnographic walkthroughs, screenshot analyses, user interviews, and group discussions) we highlight how affectivity, identity, and mental health are reconfigured in our digital present. In the sense of 'research of and for world-making', this approach, sensitized by power critique as well as multilayered empirical data, guides us in our search for forms of emancipatory practice. |
| Veranstalter*innen | Association of European Qualitative Researchers in Psychology (EQuiP) |
| Vortragende | Meister Moritz Slunecko, Thomas |
| Datum, Zeit und Ort | Datum: 2026-07-08 - 2026-07-10 Ort: Lyon |
| URL | https://www.equip2026.inviteo.fr/ |
