Digital Health Tracking and Sharing on Social Media
Background and Objectives
The quantification of health through digital tracking technologies such as smartwatches, health apps, and wearable sensors has become a central feature of contemporary health practices. These technologies transform subjective bodily experiences into measurable data and embed them in digital communication environments. When health data are shared on social media or specialized platforms, they become part of social interaction, enabling visibility, comparison, evaluation, and feedback.
From a communication science perspective, digital health tracking is therefore not only a form of self-monitoring, but also a communicative practice in which health is produced, displayed, interpreted, and negotiated in social contexts. This project investigates how health data are tracked, communicated, and socially processed, and which psychological and social effects emerge from sharing, liking, and commenting on quantified health information.
Study Design
The project is based on the digital meal panel study with cross-sectional surveys and longitudinal development. Standardized online questionnaires assess digital health tracking practices, communication behaviors, and their psychological correlates. This design allows both the description of current patterns of health data communication and the examination of longer-term effects of these practices.
Research Focus
The project generally focuses on different aspects:
- Who engages in digital health tracking and which types of health data are most commonly quantified.
- On which platforms tracked health data are communicated (general social media vs. specialized health or fitness platforms).
- With whom health data are shared and how visibility is managed across different audiences.
- How communication processes such as sharing, liking, and commenting shape the social meaning of health data.
- Which psychological effects are associated with these practices?