ABSTRACT
Digital quantification creates new instrumental constraints for individuals, but also opportunities for individual self-control and performance enhancement, which are subjectively perceived and psychologically processed in very different ways. Self-tracking represents a practical form of quantifying self-optimisation. In research, self-tracking has so far been discussed either as an expression of control and heteronomy or as a possibility of increased autonomy and emancipation. Few studies have addressed the question of how the use of self-tracking affects people with specific mental disorders. Psychodynamic approaches are applied even less frequently. Based on two case vignettes from the research project “The Measured Life”, ideal types of psychological processing of self-tracking in depression and burnout are presented.
