From Quantity to Quality: A Postphenomenological Perspective on Food Apps

Abstract

The postphenomenological perspective clearly shows that our relationships with reality are always mediated by technology, shaping our world and altering our self-perception and experiences. Don Ihde and Peter-Paul Verbeek highlight that this mediation also affects our actions and moral choices. With the advent of Artificial Intelligence, this relationship becomes interaction, influencing predictions and recommendations more radically. This essay examines how technological mediation impacts our eating experience and relationship with food, focusing on diet management apps and monitoring devices. These apps, part of self-tracking practices, redefine our self, food, and eating. The essay explores the moral implications of this technological approach to eating, addressing numerous ethical issues. It proposes revisiting the idea of food as care, emphasizing a qualitative approach that includes attention to others, sharing, and responsibility as fundamental elements of wellbeing.