The Subjectivities of Wearable Sleep-Trackers-A Discourse Analysis

Abstract

Self-reported quality and duration of sleep in Western populations is declining. The interest in wearable sleep-trackers that are promising better sleep is growing. By wearing a device day and night the sleeper is continuously connected to a more-than-human network. The mass-adoption of sleep-tracking devices has an impact on the personal, social and cultural meaning of sleep. This study looks at the discourse forming around wearable sleep-trackers. This extended abstract presents how non-human subjectivities are accounted for in this discourse. Through a posthuman discourse analysis of textual and visual artefacts from interviews, academic research and popular media, six distinct roles for these non-human social agents were identified: "Teacher', "Informant', "Companion', "Therapist', "Coach' and "Mediator'. This characterisation is a first step to understanding sleep-trackers as social agents, reorganising personal and contextual relationships with the sleeping self.