Tracking ambivalence: an existential critique of datafication in the context of chronic pain

In recent years, data-driven approaches to chronic pain care have increased dramatically. However, people living with chronic pain are ambivalent about datafication practices. Drawing on in-depth interviews with individuals living with chronic pain, I discuss and analyze this ambivalence. On the one hand, participants imbibe the promissory rhetoric of data as that which may organize and control the body in pain. On the other hand, they dismiss and critique the type of data collected. This micro-level analysis of the pain tracking experience illuminates a tension between datafication and chronic pain. Datafication demands that the patient relay information about their body that is free of ambiguity. However, chronic pain is ambiguous and full of paradox. This article illuminates the emotional chasm between datafication enthusiasts and chronic pain patients who track their pain and suggests that such enthusiasm may lead to bad faith.