Who Up Quantifying the Self?
Binchtopia
Julia Hava & Eliza McLamb
4.8 • 2.4K Ratings
🗓️ 8 October 2025
⏱️ 78 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week on Binchtopia, Eliza returns from her off-grid era to dive into the history and evolution of body technology, from ancient tracking rituals to Silicon Valley’s quantified self movement. The girlies break down Fitbits, Oura Rings, Prenuvo scans, and sleep apps to examine how our obsession with optimizing the body blurs the line between health, surveillance, and control. Digressions include Taylor Swift’s public clowning, Nicki Minaj and Cardi B beefing with each other’s kids, and the biological necessity of annihilation anxiety.
This episode was produced by Julia Hava and Kylie Finnigan and edited by Livi Burdette.
SOURCES
A Panopticon on My Wrist: The Biopower of Big Data Visualization for Wearables
Beyond Human: Lifelogging and Life Extension
Denial of Death by Ernest Becker
Full-body MRIs: Peace of mind for some, "bane of my existence" for others
Health Wearables, Gamification, and Healthful Activity
I covered my body in health trackers for 6 months. It ruined my life.
Know Thyself: Tracking Every Facet of Life, from Sleep to Mood to Pain, 24/7/365
Memex: A Romantic Theoretical Tool for Thought
Orthosomnia: Are Some Patients Taking the Quantified Self Too Far?
Prevalence of Orthosomnia in a General Population Sample: A Cross-Sectional Study
Ring of power: Oura will soon be worth $11b
Self-Tracking by Gina Neff & Dawn Nafus
The Quantified Self by Deborah Lupton
The Rise of Wearable Devices during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review
Wearable Devices Can Increase Health Anxiety. Could They Adversely Affect Health?
Wearable Devices to Improve Physical Activity and Reduce Sedentary Behaviour: An Umbrella Review
White Noise by Don Delillo
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Binchotopia. We hope you enjoy your stay. |
| 0:15.1 | Hi everybody. Welcome back to Vinchotopia. Hello and welcome back. I'm Julia Hava and today I'm here with Eliza McLean. Hey, she's back. I'm back to visit you guys. You're back with your beautiful hello and welcome back. So melodic. People have been missing it. They got to hear it on the media zone if they heard it. But now it's on the main feed for everybody to just be comforted by again. Oh, yay. Well, it's so nice to be here in the new stew. In the new stew. Thoughts on the new stew. Dude. Dude looks so good. The stewed. The stewed. I love the blue and the green together. I wouldn't have thought it up in my mind. We saw it on Pinterest. Totally. It was kind of a seeing it on Pinterest, making it happen in real life sort of situation. Yeah, seeing it here, it totally works. I think it like pop so much on camera. I think it looks great. I know. People were comparing us to some Van Gogh painting. I was like, yes, I love it. Amazing. Yeah, and all your little trinkets and stuff, I feel like you really get to see them here. They're on display in a way that they weren't in the last studio. |
| 1:14.0 | We're missing the gain not. it. Amazing. Yeah, and all your little trinkets and stuff, I feel like you really get to see them here. |
| 1:11.1 | They're on display in a way that they weren't in the last studio. We're missing the gay knackracker, but I'm sure he's like, do you have that up in your house somewhere? You're like, that's where he belongs. No, they are stationed. Oh, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. No, it's okay. It's all right. We live and learn. |
| 1:27.4 | I'll pass on your condolences for sure. |
| 1:29.5 | Yeah, no, it looks so awesome in here. |
| 1:31.4 | And I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. No, it's okay. It's all right. We live and learn. I'll pass on your condolences for sure. |
| 1:29.5 | Yeah, no, it looks so awesome in here and I'm excited to be back. Are you a new girl since you came from the farm? No, I'm not a new girl, unfortunately, but I did go to the farm and I was off the grid for a while. But you are a vegan now. I'm a vegan now. |
| 1:42.0 | So you are kind of a new girl. |
| 1:42.9 | And I don't smoke anymore. |
| 1:44.2 | Really? |
| 1:44.7 | Yeah. |
| 1:45.3 | Wow. |
| 1:45.8 | I know. |
| 1:46.4 | How did that happen? |
| 1:47.3 | Everything changes. You are a vegan now. I'm a vegan now. So you are kind of a new girl. |
| 1:44.5 | Really? |
| 1:45.0 | Yeah. |
| 1:45.7 | Wow. |
| 1:46.2 | I know. How did that happen? Everything changes. I don't know. I honestly kind of feel like I saw a comment that was like Eliza really shook up her life. You were like, I'm shaking up my life. Yeah. I was kind of like I'm shaking up my life. But yeah, I don't know. |
| 2:00.0 | I think I just had some time where I could really unplug. |
| 2:03.4 | And we talked a bit on the media so. Yeah. I was kind of like I'm shaking up my life. But yeah, I don't know. I think I just had some time where I could really unplug. |
... |
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