Anyone with a strong interest in either tech startups or personal fitness is by now familiar with the term "the quantified self." The category includes things that go on your wrist (Fitbit, Basis), on your belly (Bellabeat) and in your shoe (Nike+). It's not clear, however, that consumers are very interested in being quantified outside an opt-in environment. In advertising, the rapid growth of programmatic buying, big data, and DMPs has allowed us to parse and target audiences with unprecedented sophistication. This should, in theory, lead to more relevant advertising, a better user experience, and higher consumer engagement -- which …

I've written a couple of times recently about my views on the rise of marketing technology and its implication for our industry. Lots of folks have been reacting to it, so I'm taking that as a message that I should continue to push forward on this meme. I believe that the rise of mar tech is going to have an enormous impact on the structure and operation of the digital advertising supply chain. Put simply, it will obliterate the supply chain as we know it today.

In addition to my day job running marketing for my company, I also study the role of the CMO and the craft of marketing itself as other people -- in other companies and categories -- practice it. To do that, I speak to other CMOs and ask them questions about how they do what they do. Recently I was intrigued by one question that was asked by someone else in a conversation: What will be your legacy at the company where you currently work?

Netflix and Chill: It sounded innocent enough: a night of curling up on the couch in a Snuggie, with no plan other than some "Orange is the New Black" and Hagen Dazs binging. And that's how it started out: innocent. Then those damned kids got hold of it, and its present meaning ended up in a place quite removed from its origin. Unfortunately, my wife didn't know that when she used the phrase in a Facebook post for her gift basket company.

I have written frequently about the increasing threat that is marketing automation. My point has been that it will turn out to be more of a job killer than a job creator. Those who currently hold a low-end media-buying and -selling role are prime examples of endangered jobs. They have relied heavily on Excel spreadsheets and other stand-alone technologies. But connected and real-time machine buying and selling is growing very, very fast, and it won't be long before perhaps half of those currently working in this area find that their skills and roles will have been automated.

Information being a prerequisite for effective participation in a democracy, without freedom of speech and freedom of the press our democracy fails to function. We need access to facts and opinions that are unbiased, unafraid, and without obligation to anyone other than the public good. Sadly and scarily, our channels of communication are under threat on multiple fronts, starting with the fact that the companies that provide us with information have no economic incentive to, you know, inform us.

On Dec. 22, the Federal Trade Commission told us that advertisements that are not identifiable as advertisements are deceptive. They included a list of content that applies, but what's an ad: any communication with commercial intent? A conversation? As reported elsewhere, at SWSX last year, a bunch of unsuspecting Tinder users tried to date the lovely Ava. She's real, and she's a robot, and she wants you to check out a movie site.

Dave Morgan wrote an insightful column last week about how ad tech is going to get eaten up by marketing tech in 2016. Dave is one of the smartest, classiest people in the digital business, so I think he was being too nice in his assessment. Marketing tech already triumphed last year - and 2016 might be even harder for pure ad-tech companies.

There is a big difference between being informed and being thoughtful. Our connected world definitely puts the bias on the importance of information: being connected is all about being informed. But being thoughtful requires us to remove distraction, and it requires a very different mindset.

We are 18 days into the new year. How are your New Year's resolutions going? I was in the gym this morning, and it was not very busy. Seeing as it is not yet too late, let me offer you some professional alternatives you could easily adhere to, and by doing so make your and everybody's professional lives better.