(est. 2021) explores the intersections of technology, culture, and human experience. From urban phenomena and digital spirituality to the evolving landscapes of creativity, we investigate how modern life reshapes perception, identity, and society.
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#21 — VIOL: the ‘anti-violence’ drug that is spreading through Lisbon by Mark Ellison
#20 — Signal Ghosts: The Cities Where Wi-Fi Never Dies
#19 — Digital Detox Retreats: Escaping the Algorithm by Cassandra Myrren
#18 — The Urban Sleep Crisis by Eleanor Voss
#17 — Cryptic Art: NFTs and the Revaluation of Creativity by Marcus Ellwood
#16 — Virtual Pilgrimages: Religious Experience Online by Mark Ellison
#15 — The Dark Side of Wellness: When Self-Optimization Becomes Obsession by Eleanor Voss
#14 — AI Companions and the Loneliness Epidemic by Isolde Maren
#13 — The Rise of Microdosing in Corporate Culture by Cassandra Myrren
#12 — Sonic Immunity: Healing Through Frequencies by Cassandra Myrren
#11 — The Ethics of Immortality by Adrien Veyra
#10 — Algorithmic Faith: When Machines Preach by Mark Ellison
#09 — Post-Human Erotics: Desire Beyond the Flesh by Elin Vårnes
#08 — Synthetic Memory: The Future of Personal Archives by Caio Navarro
#07 — Neurosprawl: Mapping the Brain as a City by Eleanor Voss
#06 — The Archive Will Outlive You by Liang Wei
#05 — Eternal Scroll: The Infinite Feed as a Prison by Isolde Maren
#04 — Terraforming the Mind by Alessio Romano
#03 — Digital Necromancy by Mark Ellison
#02 — Speculative Hunger: Future Diets in a Synthetic World by Cassandra Myrren
#01 — The Ecology of Glitches by Alessio Romano
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Eleanor Voss
#15 — 4 min read
The Dark Side of Wellness: When Self-Optimization Becomes Obsession
2024
The Dark Side of Wellness: When Self-Optimization Becomes Obsession
2024
Wellness, once conceived as a private sanctuary of rest, reflection, and care, has undergone a profound transformation. Across metropolises like New York, Tokyo, and Berlin, the pursuit of health has evolved from a personal practice into an intricate performance, a spectacle where bodies and minds are incessantly monitored, measured, and optimized. The promise of liberation inherent in wellness has paradoxically become a mechanism of self-exploitation (Han, 2015).
Wearable technologies, nutrition-tracking apps, and fitness algorithms present the illusion of mastery over the body. Yet, these instruments often cultivate anxiety under the guise of empowerment. As Scarry (1999) observes in On Beauty and Being Just, heightened bodily awareness can engender both awe and distress; the quantified self risks becoming an arena of constant scrutiny rather than introspection. The body, once a lived experience, transforms into a dataset demanding refinement.
Social media exacerbates this phenomenon. Influencers curate meticulously staged routines blending science, ritual, and aesthetic spectacle. Instagram feeds overflow with images of meticulously balanced meals, sunrise yoga sequences, and regimented workouts. Here, wellness is packaged as a marketable lifestyle. According to Illouz (2008), affective economies of digital platforms commodify emotions, making self-improvement simultaneously desirable and performative. Users internalize these curated ideals, often experiencing guilt or shame when personal routines fail to meet algorithmic or social standards.
The philosophical dimensions of self-optimization echo Byung-Chul Han’s critique of psychopolitics. In Psychopolitics (Han, 2015), the neoliberal imperative transforms individuals into projects, where autonomy is illusory and every choice becomes a metric of moral and productive value. Wellness, intended as care, paradoxically morphs into a regime of discipline and control. Cities become experimental laboratories for this phenomenon: coworking spaces with mindfulness corners, gyms that double as social arenas, and cafés commodifying “balance” as luxury, reinforcing the ideology that health equates to social worth (Crawford, 2006).
The dark side of wellness manifests in subtle and cumulative ways. Chronic fatigue, anxiety disorders, orthorexia, and compulsive exercise are increasingly documented in urban populations obsessed with perfection (Bratman & Knight, 2000). Unlike overt pathologies, the psychological violence of self-optimization is hidden, normalized, and often celebrated. The body and mind are no longer sites of experience but instruments to be perfected according to externally imposed standards.
Historically, wellness movements emphasized restoration and reflection. Contemporary practices, however, prioritize output, efficiency, and visibility. Foucault’s (1977) notion of biopower provides a critical lens: individuals internalize surveillance, regulating their own bodies in alignment with societal and economic imperatives. What was once a personal pursuit of balance has become a pervasive culture of obligation, where failure is moralized as weakness.
Yet resistance is possible. Voss suggests that meaningful wellness must reclaim imperfection, embrace uncertainty, and situate care within contexts that resist commodification and algorithmic oversight. To live well is to navigate the tension between optimization and authenticity, recognizing that self-care is not a performance but a reflective practice. The challenge lies in disentangling genuine care from the subtle coercion embedded in contemporary wellness infrastructures.
In conclusion, the modern obsession with wellness reflects broader cultural anxieties: the drive for control over the self, the fear of vulnerability, and the seduction of perfection. By situating wellness within both historical and philosophical frameworks, it becomes clear that obsession is not an aberration but an emergent property of digitalized, market-driven societies. Only by reclaiming autonomy, resisting over-quantification, and cultivating spaces of genuine reflection can wellness regain its original purpose: care, liberation, and the flourishing of lived experience.
References
- Bratman, S., & Knight, K. (2000). Health Food Junkies: Orthorexia Nervosa. New York: Crown Publishing.
- Crawford, R. (2006). Health as a Meaningful Social Practice. Sociology of Health & Illness, 28(1), 101–120.
- Foucault, M. (1977). Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison. New York: Pantheon Books.
- Han, B.-C. (2015). Psychopolitics: Neoliberalism and the New Power. London: Verso.
- Illouz, E. (2008). Saving the Modern Soul: Therapy, Emotions, and the Culture of Self-Help. Berkeley: University of California Press.
- Scarry, E. (1999). On Beauty and Being Just. Princeton: Princeton University Press.