Maturo, A. and Moretti, V.Digital Health and the Gamification of Life, Bingley: Emerald Publishing2017. 176 pp (pbk) £60.00 (ebk) £43.19 ISBN 978‐1‐78754‐366‐9

Abstract

Maturo and Moretti have produced a largely theoretical work, concerned with the social problems of utilising digital technology in the realms of health and wellbeing. The title is somewhat misleading as the central theme of the work is not digital health but rather health and wellbeing more widely. Digital health (specifically apps) is used as a discursive glue to explain the main themes of the book that is health, wellbeing and medicalisation. Given the work’s frequent discussion of health, wellbeing and ‘weisure’ (a neologism merging work and leisure activities), I would recommend it to scholars with an interest in sports sociology, lifestyle medicine and theoretical perspectives on digital health. Chapter 1 (Self-tracking and Quantification of Everyday Life) opens with a critique of neoliberalism and the power structures related to standardising data, using a Foucauldian lens. The positive side of this is that if you are not familiar with Foucault and other similar French theorists, this chapter offers a good introduction to some of their theories. However, the chapter does not connect these ideas to digital health straight away, but rather functions as a theoretical baseline for the rest of the publication. Chapter 2 (Getting Things Done: Gaming and Framing) is a little more balanced, in terms of presenting counter-evidence to the authors’ position, regarding the effects of turning health apps into games. It moves more firmly into a discussion about health apps, with some solid use of Lacanian theory, which is more useful and less speculative than the clich ed anticapitalistic approach in Chapter 1. Both Chapters 1 and 2 (as well as other select parts of the text) can veer into strawman arguments in the guise of ‘big pharma’ and ‘neo-liberalism’ (conveniently never defined) (pp. 102–3). This is part of a wider issue in the work around the overzealous application of theory whereby the subject itself (digital health), disappears under layers of speculation. Rather than theory being used to illuminate an issue, it instead overshadows it. Wrong (1993) warned against portraying thinking agents as mindless beings, without the capacity to make their own independent decisions in his work the Oversocialized Conception of Man in Modern Sociology. This is a particular problem that the text has, especially in Chapters 1 and 2. In Chapters 3–5, this problem lessens by covering a wider range of competing theories and perspectives. However, the issue returns in Chapter 6 (The Positive Medicalization: Digital Meditation). For example, the means by which an app highlights the performance of the user was criticised. From an app evaluator’s perspective, the feedback given did not seem unusual in terms of usability. However, the authors suggested it represents a society concerned with grades, physical beauty and material gain. The explanation in relation to the data presented seemed somewhat over eager. That being said, the chapter ends on a more reasonable note with the pros and cons of digital health being debated, and the book starting to look less one-sided. In the same chapter, the authors reject the idea of using semiotics as a lens to analyse their work, citing Umberto Eco to this end. I can’t help but feel the semiotics of Umberto Eco, Charles Sanders Pierce, or the multimodal modelling of Gunther Kress would have been a better, more neutral approach to analysing the apps discussed in the book rather than the Foucault ad nauseam which pervades much medical sociology, this work included. For the pragmatic reader, Chapter 7 is a welcome change from the others. It is data-driven, concise and well-written, offering many more examples of real-world digital health applications. The style appears distinct from the other sections of the text. It reads more like an evidence synthesis. However, once more, in terms of subject matter, it is concerned with physical activity and wellbeing more than digital health.