Digital Discoverer One: Carmen

The first in our four-part opinion series exploring what it means to be a Digital Discoverer.

Discover Digital: for your health and wellbeing is Scotland’s first week of hands on, immersive, multi-media experiences where people can experience how digital technologies could improve their everyday wellbeing.

The initiative consists of six free events, open to people of all ages, backgrounds and abilities. By coming along, you will have the chance to shape the range of technologies used to support healthcare in Scotland in the future. Book your free tickets here (this link will take you away from our website).

To celebrate this ground-breaking initiative, we have asked four people what it means to them to be a Digital Discoverer. The first blog comes from Carmen, our Discover Digital Project Manager.

1.       Tell us a bit about yourself

My name is Carmen and I’m currently managing this exciting project, which aims to be Scotland’s first week of events to explore tech for health and wellbeing that’s open to the general public.

In my spare time I talk too much about hills and occasionally walk on them too.

2.       Your first memory of being awed by technology

I was quite a late adopter of smart phones, I only got my first one in 2014 or so and I immediately downloaded a sleep tracking app (priorities of a humanities student…). However, it all spiraled out of control and in a few months I was tracking every aspect of my life – food, steps, water intake, mood swings, time spent outdoors, energy, naps, productivity.

It was an interesting exercise and I was impressed be how much data I could gather and the patterns I could notice. However, in the end I gave up the technology and kept the awareness, if that makes sense?

Through my phone and the numbers and graphs it showed me, I learnt to identify patterns, listen to my body and know myself better, and I think that’s what I find quite inspiring about tech.

3.       Three ways in which you use digital tech to look after your health / wellbeing

Despite of what I said above, I do still have a Misfit Ray (this link will take you away from our website) to track my steps / activity. I chose it because it doesn’t have a screen and it doesn’t intrude in my life; I choose not to connect it to any social media. I wear it most of the time and only occasionally check my stats – after a run or a hike, for example – for the rewarding feel-good factor.

Relaxio (this link will take you away from our website) – it’s an app I use at work when I really need to focus. It mixes white noise with nature or environmental sounds and drowns out all the stress and chatter.

I occasionally use DuoLingo (this link will take you away from our website) to practice my German and learn Portuguese. What’s that got to do with health and wellbeing, you ask? Several studies have shown that learning a language is great for our brains – plus it’s a fun thing to do on public transport to pass the time and makes the morning commute less stressful.

4.       The most ridiculous app currently installed on your phone

Judging by the reactions I get from people, it must be Zombies Run (this link will take you away from our website), although to me the whole concept makes perfect sense: why just run, when you can distract yourself from the fact you’re running by listening to immersive stories taking place in a post-apocalyptic setting?

You can even hear the zombies chasing you and it definitely helps you run faster!

5.       Which of the Discover Digital events are you most excited about?

These event are sort of my babies at the moment, so I can’t really pick favourites. I’m just excited to see them growing and developing, hoping they’ll have a positive impact in the community. Don’t forget to have a browse through them all and register for those that you find most interesting:

21 Oct, Dundee –Discover Digital: for your health and wellbeing – the Dundee showcase.

22 Oct, Glasgow –Your health stories and how tech might change them.

23 Oct, Glasgow –Young waves: finding and spreading online support.

24 Oct, Glasgow –Discover Digital: for your health and wellbeing – the Glasgow showcase.

25 Oct, Glasgow –Healthcare and wellbeing data: the art of the possible.

26 Oct, Glasgow – Does digital work for everyone?

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