Greg Beato on Self-Tracking in the Digital Age

To some degree, we all self-track. We step on a scale, we jot diary entries in Moleskines, we may even keep fairly comprehensive logs of the miles we cycle or run and the calories we burn in the process. But just as channel-surfing grew infinitely easier in the wake of the remote control, but then infinitely more compelling as the number of channels exploded, so goes self-tracking. In his column from our January 2012 issue, Greg Beato wonders what life will be like when every aspect of our existence is as easy to access as the latest Lady Gaga single.