Since 2005, designer Nicholas Felton has been documenting his daily activities — meals eaten, miles travelled, people met — and publishing the results in the form of an annual report. He even built an app, Daytum, to help other people track their every moves. In this video, Felton shares how and why he lives a quantified life.
The ex-Facebook designer talks about the tools he uses to gather data on himself throughout the day. On his wrists he wears a FitBit AND a FuelBand AND a Basis smartwatch, to track physical activity, heart rate and sleep. In the car, he uses the Automatic app to track fuel consumption and distance driven. Time management software RescueTime is installed on his computer to measure the time spent on each task and provide him with a productivity score each day. And although he doesn’t mention the brand, he’s also added a breathalyzer to keep tabs on his alcohol consumption.
One of the best moments comes when the interviewer asks him, “Are you obsessive compulsive?” Felton’s response: “Um…”
You can view all of Felton’s annual reports at his site, Feltron, a twist on his last name which plays upon his need to analyse yearly data like a massive corporation. The 2013 report was published today and it focuses on
logging and analysing all his communications. If your name appears in it, you can email him for a full breakdown of your interactions. [New York Times]