Quantified Baby: Parenting and the Use of a Baby Wearable in the Wild

2017. Junqing Wang, Aisling O'Kane, Nikki Newhouse, Geraint Sethu-Jones & Kaya Barbaro
Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction.

Abstract

Baby wearable technologies are becoming increasingly popular, particularly in early infancy. However, little research has been conducted to investigate how baby wearable technologies are adopted and used in parenting. This paper presents a two-week in-depth situated study with six mothers in their homes consisting of contextual entry and exit interviews, video recordings of "out-of-box" experiences, and a diary study. Using interpretative phenomenological analysis, participants' use and expectations of the baby wearable technology were examined. Use of the device directly impacted upon parents' knowledge production and anxiety, and influenced the perceived physicality and social factors of parenting. We frame these findings around sociological norms of the vulnerable child and responsible mother, as well as the notion of "lived informatics", where individuals' interaction with the technology influenced the perception, use and impact of the baby wearable on everyday parenting practices and familial relationships.

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Citation

Wang, J., O'Kane, A. A., Newhouse, N., Sethu-Jones, G. R., & de Barbaro, K. (2017 , dec). Quantified baby: parenting and the use of a baby wearable in the wild. Proc. ACM Hum.-Comput. Interact., 1(CSCW). URL: https://doi.org/10.1145/3134743, doi:10.1145/3134743

BibTeX

@article{10.1145/3134743,
author = {Wang, Junqing and O'Kane, Aisling Ann and Newhouse, Nikki and Sethu-Jones, Geraint Rhys and de Barbaro, Kaya},
title = {Quantified Baby: Parenting and the Use of a Baby Wearable in the Wild},
year = {2017},
issue_date = {November 2017},
publisher = {Association for Computing Machinery},
address = {New York, NY, USA},
volume = {1},
number = {CSCW},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1145/3134743},
doi = {10.1145/3134743},
abstract = {Baby wearable technologies are becoming increasingly popular, particularly in early infancy. However, little research has been conducted to investigate how baby wearable technologies are adopted and used in parenting. This paper presents a two-week in-depth situated study with six mothers in their homes consisting of contextual entry and exit interviews, video recordings of "out-of-box" experiences, and a diary study. Using interpretative phenomenological analysis, participants' use and expectations of the baby wearable technology were examined. Use of the device directly impacted upon parents' knowledge production and anxiety, and influenced the perceived physicality and social factors of parenting. We frame these findings around sociological norms of the vulnerable child and responsible mother, as well as the notion of "lived informatics", where individuals' interaction with the technology influenced the perception, use and impact of the baby wearable on everyday parenting practices and familial relationships.},
journal = {Proc. ACM Hum.-Comput. Interact.},
month = {dec},
articleno = {108},
numpages = {19},
keywords = {wearables, situated study, quantified self, personal informatics, parenting, mothers, in the wild., baby monitors, baby}
}