ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at the growing focus on numbers in various areas of life, which is being driven by the development of digital devices and media. The preoccupation with social relationships (social media) or body data (self-tracking), for example, is increasingly taking place digitally and is displayed using numbers. Digital numbers facilitate practices of (self-)measurement, comparison and optimisation. These practices will be described on the basis of the findings of the research project “The Measured Life”, using empirical case studies to show where moments of transition occur in which corresponding practices become problematic or harmful and can also turn into addictive behaviour. It will also show how biographical and psychological dispositions from people’s life histories can be linked to the meanings and functions of these behaviours.
