Bodies in performance: technology, self-tracking, and work-family balance in high-performing academic women

Bodies in performance: technology, self-tracking, and work-family balance in high-performing academic women

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5027/psicoperspectivas-Vol24-Issue2-fulltext-3450

Keywords:

academy, care, digital technologies, gender, neoliberalism

Abstract

The growing incorporation of smart technologies into professional life has transformed the way work, family, and performance are balanced, especially among high-performing female academics. This article examines the use of portable technologies in this segment, analyzing their impact on everyday experience, productivity, and work-family balance, to examine the tensions that arise in relation to the use of portable technologies to manage work-family balance, based on the embodied experience of high-performing female academics. From a critical technology studies approach, it problematizes how these tools, far from being neutral, reinforce bodily, affective, and gender norms. Forty Chilean women who led FONDECYT Regular projects between 2020 and 2024 were interviewed. The technique used to gather information was active interviewing, which was then analyzed through content analysis. The results argue that self-tracking can act as a technology of control and self-demand, although it also enables forms of reappropriation and resistance. The article proposes the critical use of technologies to view work-life balance not as an individual problem, but as a structural tension that requires institutional and cultural transformations.

Author Biographies

Carla Fardella Cisternas, Facultad de Educación y Ciencias Sociales, Universidad Andres Bello

Dr Fardella holds a Master's degree and a PhD in Social Psychology from the Universitat Autònoma de  Barcelona. She is a senior researcher at the Faculty of Education and Social Sciences at Andrés Bello University, and has conducted research in the field of social studies of work, higher education, and the transformation of production models. Fardella has published works on the transformation of the state and its impact on teachers and knowledge workers: teachers, academics, and researchers. She has participated in various individual and collaborative research projects.

Nicolás Schöngut-Grollmus, Universidad de las Américas

Social psychologist and Associate Professor at the Faculty of Health and Social Sciences, Universidad de Las Américas, Chile. Dr Schöngut works at the intersection of health, technology, and society from an interdisciplinary perspective. His research focuses on the social study of health technologies, rare diseases, and healthcare decision-making, drawing on approaches from social psychology, Science and Technology Studies (STS), and critical health research. I am particularly interested in how technologies—such as wearable devices and genetic testing—reshape care relationships, patient autonomy, and the production of medical knowledge. My current research includes a FONDECYT-funded project (2025–2028) examining the social, technological, and health dimensions of wearable devices in Chile. This work explores how wearables mediate self-monitoring practices, surveillance, and autonomy in everyday health management. I also lead qualitative studies on rare diseases, investigating how patients and health professionals navigate uncertainty and fragmented healthcare systems in contexts lacking standardized protocols.

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Published

2025-07-15

How to Cite

Fardella Cisternas, C., & Schöngut-Grollmus, N. (2025). Bodies in performance: technology, self-tracking, and work-family balance in high-performing academic women. Psicoperspectivas, 24(2). https://doi.org/10.5027/psicoperspectivas-Vol24-Issue2-fulltext-3450

Issue

Vol. 24 No. 2 (2025): Technology and algorithmic governance: Social and political transformations in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

Section

Research Articles - ST

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Copyright (c) 2025 Carla Fardella Cisternas, Nicolás Schöngut-Grollmus (Autor)

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