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In an unpredictable world, self-improvement can become a way to manage anxiety.

Self-awareness can become self-surveillance.

A constant drive toward improvement can pull us away from connection.

I track my steps, my workouts, my calories. I read the research, listen to podcasts, and try to stay current on what it means to live well. Recently, after watching yet another segment on food, health, and longevity, I found myself saying, “I’m tired of tracking and managing everything.”

It wasn’t dramatic. In fact, it felt like a quiet realization that had been slowly building. But it stayed with me, and beneath the routines and metrics was a deeper question: When did caring for ourselves begin to feel like perfecting ourselves?

When Care Becomes Self-Surveillance

There is nothing inherently problematic about wanting to grow or take care of ourselves. Yet over time, it can begin to feel like pressure—a quiet sense that there is a version of ourselves we are supposed to be moving toward, but never quite reaching.

The tools we use, and the culture surrounding them, can shift how we relate to that process. Emerging research on digital monitoring and wearable technologies suggests that while these tools can increase awareness, they may also heighten self-evaluation and psychological vigilance (Jafarlou et al., 2024).........

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