Abstract
Long COVID is a post-viral illness where symptoms are still experienced more than three months after an infection of COVID 19. In line with a recent shift within HCI and research on self-tracking towards first-person methodologies, I present the results of an 18-month long autoethnographic study of using a Fitbit fitness tracker whilst having long COVID. In contrast to its designed intentions, I misused my Fitbit to do less in order to pace and manage my illness. My autoethnography illustrates three modes of using fitness tracking technologies to do less and points to the new design space of technologies for reducing, rather than increasing, activity in order to manage chronic illnesses where over-exertion would lead to a worsening of symptoms. I propose that these "pacing technologies"should acknowledge the interoceptive and fluctuating nature of the user's body and support user's decision-making when managing long-term illness and maintaining quality of life.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | CHI 2023 - Proceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems |
Publisher | Association for Computing Machinery, Inc. |
Publication date | 2023 |
Pages | 1-14 |
Article number | 656 |
ISBN (Electronic) | 9781450394215 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2023 |
Event | 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 2023 - Hamburg, Germany Duration: 23 Apr 2023 → 28 Apr 2023 |
Conference
Conference | 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 2023 |
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Country/Territory | Germany |
City | Hamburg |
Period | 23/04/2023 → 28/04/2023 |
Sponsor | ACM SIGCHI, Apple, Bloomberg, Google, NSF, Siemens |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2023 Owner/Author.
Keywords
- autoethnography
- COVID 19
- Fitbit
- fitness tracking technologies
- Heart-rate monitor
- Long COVID
- pacing technologies
- Phenomenology
- Post COVID-19 syndrome
- Self-Tracking
- Step counting