• by George Simpson , Featured Contributor, May 10, 2010

In The Data-Driven Life Gary Wolf, a Wired writer freelancing for the NY Times Sunday Magazine, writes about people who persistently collect data about their lives in order to help change them. One guy recorded his coffee habits in order to cut back, another his alcohol consumption, another his mood swings to better understand their triggers. Another has kept a record of a million (literally) ideas he's has since 1984. All of this is made possible by new technology, especially mobile, and the miniaturization of tracking devices that can automate the data collection process.

It is not always successful in that the data can reflect failure to achieve goals set by recording the data in the first place (such as weight loss or being more efficient in the office or home).

The whole thing congers up a Groundhog Day image of a guy endlessly sitting at a PC typing "I am sitting at my PC typing in data at the moment..." But I can see the possibilities.

Each time I ask one of my kids if they did all of their homework and have studied for tests sufficiently to make an A and they say "yes," I can graph the percentage of time they actually make an A.

Each time I run, I record the distance and route on a Web site. But I am careful not to record the time spent in relation to the distance. I'd have to double up my antidepressants.

I can make a record of every conversation I ever have with my wife, so that when she claims that she "told you that last week" I have transcripts that emancipate me. In theory anyway; I suspect rather it will only lead to charges of "selectively entering" data. Sometimes even the truth isn't enough.

Over the years I could have charted the times that clients have inserted "groundbreaking" or "industry leading" or "unique" or "next level" into their press releases and shown conclusively that those terms have never once been repeated in a story by a reporter.

I should have recorded the thousands of times that Jeff Einstein and Jaffer Ali have argued that behavioral targeting doesn't work, with their opinions ignored by virtually the entire online advertising industry. But even that wouldn't stop them.

I should cross-reference the number of deer I see grazing in my backyard and deduct a proportionate amount of food from the dog's bowl. After all, that is pretty much her only job. Saying to her "you are one lazy-assed puppy" seems to have little to no effect. About as much as asking the kids if they have studied enough to make A's.

I should track my media usage, but I'd be embarrassed by the time spent watching TV. Thanks to DVRs I always have about 13 hours of stuff to watch in the bank. In fact, just last night my wife asked suspiciously "how many different shows are you recording?" I lied and said, "Oh, you know, five or six."

On the other hand, if I deduct the ad pods that I fast forward past, my TV time-spent has probably gone down, since I save about 20 minutes an hour. The cursed BlackBerry has me on e mail about 18 hours a day, so I have to deduct that from TV time, especially when my text-happy college freshman launches an SMS conversation. Not to mention the hours I spend in front of the TV asleep. Or pausing to help out with homework. In retrospect, it is a miracle I see any TV at all.

I have often thought about calorie-counting, but I am pretty convinced that neither a handheld or a whole massive desktop PC with a 34-inch LCD can convince me to stop eating those cream-filled oatmeal cookies.

I often don't listen to stop lights either.