Voluntariness of self-tracking does not blunt its extractive function

Evidence

Since it is the abstracted, commodified form of data relations that binds us into capitalism, it hardly matters that self-tracking relations are often voluntary. — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, 512

Categorization

• XREF: Challenges the consent-based frame shared by liberal surveillance literature and the attention-economy school’s emphasis on voluntary engagement. — connects to: Self-trackers apply engineering and optimization logic to everyday living — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity,…, 544; Willing personal tracking normalizes tracking as infrastructure in less voluntary domains — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection: How Data Is…, 415; Self-tracking practices reproduce data capitalism rather than resist it — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection: How Data Is…, 1138 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Willing personal tracking normalizes tracking as infrastructure in less voluntary domains #expands (0.90) — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, 415
• Self-tracking practices reproduce data capitalism rather than resist it #corroborates (0.85) — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, 1138
• Self-tracking autonomy comes at the cost of permanent submission to external data systems #expands (0.85) — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, 516