Un-tracking menopause: How not using self-tracking technologies mediates women's self-experiences in menopause

Area of Science:

• Sociology of technology
• Phenomenology
• Women's health studies

Background:

• Self-tracking is widely researched, but its use by women during menopause is understudied.
• Menopause is a significant life stage for most women, yet their engagement with self-tracking technologies during this transition is largely overlooked.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how menopausal women use or do not use self-tracking technologies.
• To explore how this usage (or non-usage) influences their self-experiences.
• To examine the phenomenon of "un-tracking" during menopause.

Main Methods:

• Qualitative study involving interviews with 13 women experiencing menopause.
• Analysis framed by post-phenomenology and phenomenology of situated bodily self-awareness.

Main Results:

• Most interviewed women reported stopping, reducing, or resisting self-tracking during menopause.
• Women described their bodies as "wise and eu-appearing," "unmoldable and dysappearing," and "longing for disappearance."
• "Un-tracking" practices were contextually significant and held existential weight.

Conclusions:

• Self-tracking can potentially harm self-experiences, while "un-tracking" can be beneficial.
• The uncritical celebration of self-tracking in healthcare contexts should be re-evaluated.
• The promotion of increased self-tracking technology use in healthcare requires critical assessment.