“Taking 10,000 steps a day” – really?

By focusing on the case of walking, this article brings empirical insights into the conversation on self-tracking practices. While some perceive these forms of personal self-measurement by means of connected bracelets and watches or smartphone applications as new sources of self-knowledge, others consider them to be new ways of governing behaviours. The article situates the production of walking self-measurement in the socio-history of pedometers and shows how digital devices now support a constant evaluation of physical activity rather than sessions dedicated specifically to walking, thus integrating a public health concern – fighting physical inactivity – at the very core of daily life. However, by delving into twenty ordinary self-trackers’ ways of producing, reading and analysing traces of walking, the survey shows that beyond their appropriation of a single cognitive framework (steps, rather than kilometres or duration, as a counting unit; the 10,000 step standard), users adjust their self-measurement practices in a personal way. Their adoption of pedometers over time and their reasoning for establishing the figures that they use are far too varied to align their daily walking activity with the health objective embedded in most tools.